S U R V I V O R
by Drakulya
Summary: AU When mildmannered Hermione Granger becomes a finalist on a hot reality show, it'll take all her book knowledge and smarts to survive betrayal, confusion and resist temptation in the form of a certain blond man. DHr - COMPLETE!
1. The Beginning

**S U R V I V O R**

Based on the book 'I Will Survive' by Samantha Connolly.

**Summary:** AU When mild-mannered librarian Hermione Granger ends up as a finalist in the hot reality show called _Survive This!_, her whole world is turned upside down. How will she survive being 'stranded' on a tropical island with the host, Draco Malfoy - not her favorite person in the world - and two other contestants, along with a scheming producer and secret cameras? Well, with her book knowledge, smarts and ever-growing confidence, you might be surprised. DHr

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter belongs to me. No, really. -Is shot- Just kidding... HP and all its characters belong to JK Rowling... Julia, Laurie, Alex and any other characters I say so belong to me. The rest (i.e Kenny), plus the plot, belong to Samantha Connolly.

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**Chapter One**

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"Is this a nightgown?" Hermione Granger raised an eyebrow at the woman sitting at the table. "Because it sure looks - and feels - like one."

Julia tutted. "Of course not. This is the outfit you'll be wearing for the show. Besides, it looks great on you."

Personally, Hermione had to agree with her. The lacey dress clung to all the right places and flared out at the hem, which went to her knees. It was pale blue and contrasted starkly with her curly brown hair. "Right. Thanks. But you can't be serious about me wearing this for 14 days. On an _island_."

As if to prove a point, the yacht wobbled as it sailed over a wave and she tottered on her five-inch stilettos, coming dangerously close to twisting both ankles.

"I'm serious," Julia said flippantly, waving a hand. "If it tears, it'll motivate you to make your own clothes. And anyway, how many people _choose_ what they wear before their boat sinks and they're washed up on a deserted beach?"

"You have a point there," Hermione admitted grudgingly. "But _still_..."

The other woman sighed and picked up a thick stack of papers. "It says _here_, that the contestant has to abide to whatever the producer asks - within reason." She jabbed a manicured finger at the first page. "I thought I'd need this page. Here, Section five, part two. Read it."

Hermione read it carefully before putting it down, defeated. "OK. I'll wear it." She looked around wildly for a second. "Where's my backpack, with all my survival items?"

Julia frowned. "Backpack? You think a normal civilian will carry a backpack full of supplies every time they go for a ride on a cruise ship? Where do you come from, anyway?"

"Alright, alright," Hermione snapped, more than a little annoyed at the producer's manner. "What supplies do I get then? Nothing?"

"That handbag over there contains all you're supposed to have. Remember, you're on a cruise ship and it suddenly sinks, leaving you to swim for the nearest shore - that's the story, anyway." Julia glanced at her watch. "We're nearly there. Get yourself ready. I'm going to have a chat with Kenny, the cameraman who'll be filming you most of the time." She nodded her head at a small cupboard in the corner. "Your backpack is there, by the way, if you want to try and stuff anything into the handbag." With that, she left.

Hermione walked over to the table where a tiny handbag with sequins sewed on glittered. She unclasped it and looked inside. A bottle of expensive perfume lay inside, along with a compact, a tube of lipstick, and a couple of condoms.

She tried not to roll her eyes and failed.

"This is useless," she muttered. Taking the top off the perfume bottle, she emptied its contents into the sink nearby and rinsed it. She filled it with clean water - much more useful. She didn't really want to try drinking perfume if she was in an emergency. With the lipstick, she snapped it off at the base and stuffed twelve waterproof matches from her backpack where the lipstick had been. Perfect fit. She grabbed a small Swiss Army knife and stuffed it inside, taking out the compact and replacing it with a small mirror.

There was still room left. She took out a tiny sewing kit, compass and sunscreen from her backpack. _I'll definitely need those_, she thought as she tucked them in.

Finally, she looked at the condoms. She told herself that they didn't really take up any space and threw them back inside the bag. Satisfied, she clicked the handbag closed and walked out onto the deck of the yacht.

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There were more people on board than she'd initially thought. Most were cameramen, Julia explained. She introduced Hermione to Kenny, who was a brunette like her, and had straight hair that reached to the nape of his neck. He wore sunglasses and took them off as he shook her hand. She liked his twinkling green eyes and was glad at least the main cameraman would be a friend.

She knew one person that definitely wouldn't be.

The host, Draco Malfoy.

Hermione recalled what had possessed her to apply for this reality show in the first place.

Oh yeah.

She'd always liked watching the show _Survive This!_, even if the man who explained the survival tips in the harsh climates every week - jungle, desert, snow - was her childhood enemy. Most of her friends loved him. She had to admit he was very charming and funny on TV. _If only they knew what a bastard he is off camera,_ she thought viciously.

When applications for a place in the show came to her city, she'd sent in a filled-out form, her picture and other details that they'd wanted. She hadn't expected to get in. So imagine her surprise when a verification letter was sent to her letterbox one sunny Saturday. Her mouth had flapped open like a fish and she'd nearly punched the air in excitement.

Now, after seeing what she was allowed to take, and what she would have to wear, the excitement had died down a bit.

Well, she supposed it would be just a bit of fun.

"OK, here's the drill," Julia announced. Everyone quieted and watched the producer as she spoke. "Hermione, we'll take you to about 200 metres away from shore, and you'll swim to the island. You _do_ know how to swim, right?" She raised a questioning eyebrow at Hermione, who nodded. "Good. The rest of us will follow you as you swim. Kenny will be filming you, so when we ask you, try to look like you're struggling to keep your head above water."

Hermione rolled her eyes again. She was an excellent swimmer; it would be hard pretending to be a flailing idiot. "Alright."

Ten minutes later, she was lowered into the ocean. The water was fairly warm, it being a sunny day, but it was still colder than she would have liked. At least the flimsy dress and shoes didn't drag her down as much as her normal clothes - shirt, jeans - would have. Hermione quickly did a few warmup strokes and felt her muscles relax. Ahh, this was the life. She had a sexy outfit, and she was about to spend two weeks on paradise island with a handsome guy. _Too bad it's Draco_, she thought, the idea shattering her fantasy.

About three-quarters of the way to the beach, she felt her handbag slip away from her. "Shit," she muttered as it floated slowly downwards. She was still quite a way away from shore, and if she lost her bag here she would never see it again. Fumbling, she fished for the bag and felt its sequined surface brush her fingers. Sighing, she dived underwater and opened her eyes. The bag was caught on her heel. Carefully, she raised her foot, splashing around a bit with her hands. Finally she managed to unhook the strap and grab her supply bag.

At that moment strong arms grabbed her around the waist and started swimming towards shore. "_Hey_! What gives!" she screeched as she was towed along. She flailed her arms (like she was meant to) in an attempt to get away, but her captor only took this as a sign of maidenly distress and tightened his grip.

Minutes later, both of them crawled onto the shore. Hermione had given the man a beating on the back the best she could, and the man had struggled to keep her afloat along with trying to endure her blows. When she turned to glare at the guy she found herself looking into angry icy eyes. "Hermione... _what the fuck were you doing?_"

She sighed. "Oh. Draco. I didn't know it was you. Sorry." Actually, she _had_ noticed his white-blonde hair, but wasn't too sure if it was him. Now when she looked back on what had happened, it seemed so obvious. How many men on the show had hair a color like his?

"Just be glad I rescued you," he hissed, but then started smiling pleasantly. "So are you alright, Hermione?"

Hermione frowned. _What the..._ Then she noticed the camera beside her and forced a smile onto her own face. "I'm fine. I didn't really need your help. Really. I was just, uh, waving hello."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Will you quit being so bloody stubborn? You were drowning and we all knew it."

"I told you, I was _not_ drowning. My bag got caught on my stilettos and I had to retrieve it."

"What happened to the waving story?" he said sarcastically, and at that moment Hermione's eyes fell on a familiar glittering shape in the sand.

"My bag!" she cried, running the best she could past him and grabbing it. "Thank God." She stuffed the Swiss army knife, which had fallen out, back in and put in everything else that had floated off.

"Don't forget these," a voice said behind her. She turned around slowly, her eyes following his long legs up to his face. Draco smirked, holding up the condoms. Hastily, her face burning, she snatched them off him. She wanted to throw herself into the sea in embarassment, but remembered what she was here for. The prize at the very end of the two weeks. One million dollars. She steeled herself and stalked off.

Vaguely behind her she heard Julia asking if Kenny had gotten all that on camera. She shook her head. What a great start to her stay in paradise.

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As soon as she got away Hermione took off her shoes. Her feet hurt and she'd only been wearing these for about an hour. Sighing in relief as her bare feet touched cool sand, she looked up and spotted two people walking towards her. _They must be the other two contestants_, she thought to herself.

The first one to get to her was a blonde woman with a short pixie haircut. She had large blue eyes and a heart shaped face. She was a few inches shorter than Hermione, but instead of the latter making the blonde feel short, Hermione felt gangly and tall. She held out a hand. "Hi, I'm Hermione Granger. Nice to meet you."

The woman took her hand. "I'm Laurie Wakefield. Nice dress," she added. "You're lucky you were allowed to wear what you wanted."

Hermione grimaced. "Actually, I was forced to wear this. I'd have settled for something like what you have on," she said, nodding enviously at Laurie's long-sleeved shirt and khaki 3/4 pants.

"Wow," Laurie exclaimed. "We have totally opposite tastes in clothes. Wanna swap? It couldn't hurt to have some sexy clothing on before I see Draco again."

"Sure," Hermione answered. "I have no intention of impressing him, sexy clothing or not." At that moment the other person came puffing to join them.

"What a long run," he said, gasping. "I need to get more exercise." The man turned to Laurie. "What were you, a marathon champion?" he demanded. "That was a full mile we just ran, and you don't even look puffed!" Facing Hermione again, he introduced himself as Alexander Huberts. "Call me Alex, please," he said, making a face. "I hate it when people say my full name. It's like a curse, everywhere I go I hear people saying 'Alexannnnnnder...' Urgh, creepy."

"Sure, Alex_ander_," Laurie said, smiling innocently.

Hermione giggled. These people might actually be fun to be around. At least it'd take off some of the strain of being around Draco all the time. "Oh, come on, Laurie. Let's not provoke Alex_ander_ too much." She laughed when Alex glared at them and kicked sand at their feet.

"You know, I'm not in this for the money," Laurie admitted a while later, after they'd explained their backgrounds and how they'd gotten into this show.

Alex laughed. "Suuure. We believe you!"

Laurie giggled helplessly. "Honest! I'm in it for the fame. I want to be an actress and this kind of publicity is just what I need to get started in Hollywood." She twirled a lock of blonde hair as she spoke. "I've done small parts in movies here and there, but it would be awesome if I could play a starring role in a movie. As in one directed by someone famous, or at least has already caught a lot of attention."

Hermione nodded. "I'd wanted to be an actress since I was five, but I gave up on the dream a couple of years back when I got a part in the school play as a tree."

The other two burst into hysteric laughter.

"What?" she asked, pretending to be cross. "I mean, sure, I didn't have any lines, but at least I looked good as the scenery."

Alex wiped his eyes. "Ah, haven't had a good laugh in ages. I work as an accountant. It's an awfully boring job, if you didn't know already. I wanted to do this to prove that I could. Let's just say I'm earning respect for bookworms and accountants from all over the world."

Hermione wanted to say that she herself was a bookworm, but that would probably spur Alex on to win even more. "So I'm the only one here for the money? Then let's just say I'm the winner right here and now. Saves us all the backstabbing and betrayal at the end."

Laurie smiled. "I wish, but I need the money to jump-start my career." She winked. "An extra million dollars never hurt anybody."

"A one and six zeros," Alex said dreamily. "If I win that I could propose properly to my girlfriend."

"Oooh, how romantic," the girls cooed. Seeing that they were interested, or at least pretending to be, Alex searched around his jeans' pockets and produced, with a flourish, a small passport-sized photo of a couple smiling amiably into the camera. Hermione leaned in for a better look and saw Alex and a raven-haired young woman that appeared a few years older than her own twenty two years. "She's pretty," she said truthfully. Laurie nodded her agreement as she took a look.

Alex beamed and tucked the photo carefully back into his pocket. "Really? You're probably wondering how a beauty like her decided to go out with a guy like me," he said remorsefully.

Laurie shrugged. "Actually, I'm not that surprised." She pinched his arm playfully. "See? You have biceps. I'm not going to look but I'm guessing that the rest of you is just as well-toned," she commented, making him turn pink with pleasure. "Plus you have a nice smile. So yeah. You two make a great couple."

Alex wouldn't be on the World's Most Eligible Bachelors list anytime soon, but he wasn't too shabby when it came to looks. Hermione glanced at him and noted his messy, almost black, hair. He wore glasses but instead of making him look geeky, she was reminded fondly of Harry. And Harry was definitely _not_ a geek. _He's probably escaping some girl's attentions right now_, she thought, grinning. The rest of her thought, _halfway across the Atlantic Ocean,_ was discarded hastily. She didn't want to feel homesick right now.

"What are you smiling at?" Laurie wanted to know. "Don't tell me you've found a way to kick one of us off the island."

"Course not," Hermione retorted. "I've only met you and you seem like nice people. I'm not like that." It was true; both seemed friendly enough, straightfoward as Laurie was. Alex had a genuinely kind air about him and Laurie seemed like the type to remain friends until she absolutely _had_ to betray you in order for her to gain the upper hand. Other than that, Hermione could tell she would enjoy her time here - until the last day.

"That's good," said Alex. "I want to stay here as long as possible. It's been a great first day." Hermione was confused for a moment before remembering that Alex and Laurie had come a day before her. "We got to make our own fire and stuff. It was so cool." His eyes gleamed in excitement. Hermione smiled. When it came to survival, Alex was like a little kid, always trying to learn new things and being very enthusiastic while he was at it.

"Sounds awesome," she said.

"What's awesome?" a familiar voice, mid-range for a man's, said behind her. His breath brushed her ear and she twitched.

"Nothing," Hermione muttered as she turned around and saw Draco about an inch from her own face. Quickly she stepped back, stumbling a little. She ignored Draco's barely suppressed snigger, which he attempted to conceal with a very fake-sounding cough. Laurie fluttered her lashes at him questioningly.

Julia and Kenny joined them shortly after, the latter with a large tripod and a video camera to fit onto it. She sighed as Julia launched into a speech, again reminded of the unwelcome fact that they would be filmed every minute of their time here, short of capturing videos of them doing their business in the loo - or in a ditch.

This was going to be long two weeks.

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My first attempt at _not_ writing a funny fic (and multi-ficcing). XD Please comment and tell me if it was good or not. I'll probably finish this regardless of reviews (since it's based on a book), but if they're all flames I'll probably trash this...

Note that no, I have not given up on 10WtKDM, I am just trying out this idea. Also this fic will probably be updated less frequently than the aforementioned other fic. Just so you know. :D

Review review review!


	2. The Sexual Tension

**S U R V I V O R**

Based on the book 'I Will Survive' by Samantha Connolly.

**A/N:** Wow! Thanks, everyone, for all the reviews! Didn't expect so many... it was actually more than the reviews I first got for 10WtKDM. A lot of people said the chapter was funny, even though I didn't really try for a humor fic. Lol. I suppose that's a good thing.

And I know you guys were probably hoping for a 10WtKDM update, but I'm currently writing the first few paragraphs, so no update yet.

Here are the thanks that you guys deserve:

**EvilsmileyfaceofDOOM: **Lol, of course. 10WtKDM is my first priority.

**AttackingHentaiChibisLoveFluff: **Really? Thank you! I hope it'll turn out great too...

**Karana Belle: **Yeah, I can see Draco being a host for a show. He sure is an attention-seeker, hehe. :D

**Gi Xian:** Eeeeuuck, falling into the toilet ditch? XO

**Sayaku-chan: **Hahaha, don't feel too bad. Most of us write that in a review at least once...

**ElizabethV:** It's unusual (you think)? But this is such an obvious plot, I'd have thought lots of stories would have been written about it already... O.o Thanks for your comment, btw, I'm hoping it'll work out too.

**xoKaSsIeox:** Whether Hermione went to Hogwarts or not doesn't really matter, so you can just pretend she did/didn't. XD But for this story it's AU so we'll be working with real money and no spells or magic.

**Zekintha: **'course I'll keep up my other fic! Lol. So many people have said that... XD I'm glad you think it's a good idea. I was afraid it wouldn't be so popular.

**Christi-McIntyre:** Thank you. Yup, this certainly is a slightly more serious story than my other one, but I'll try to keep _some_ humor in it. :D

**jesska-14: **Yeah, I'd love to watch the show too, hehe.

**MegTao:** Nope, they don't have their powers, or you probably would have read about it already. :D

**MisticElf:** Thanks for your rather in-depth review! Hehe. I enjoyed reading it. And thanks for the compliment! -Blushes- I am unworthy!

**heavenssecrets:** Haha, I think I would hide under a rock too if I were Hermione when Draco picked up the condoms! XD Thanks for the review!

**Terry Moon: **Thank you, Terry Moon! I always like reading your _interesting_ reviews. XD I'm hoping this'll turn out popular too, but I think it'll be easier for this fic because I already have a lot of D/Hr readers...

Thanks also to:

**The Gryffindor Drummer, goodybad, ShortStuff10, teletubies, MidNyteOwl, palindrom, cutekitten, Redberry Greenleaf, lilithofunderworld, Crystallized Snow, Prankster Perfect, Michelle Felton, EmilyEB**

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**Chapter Two**

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"Right, listen up people," Julia announced when Kenny had the camera properly installed on the tripod. "Hermione, Draco, I love this sexual tension you have going on. It'll be a great boost to our ratings when the viewers see that. People always love to watch others squabbling like you two did, so we'll be building more on that later."

Hermione was horrified at the idea, and even more so when Laurie raised an eyebrow at her, winking. "There's no sexual tension," she and Draco said at the same time. Hermione glanced over at the blonde and noticed him smiling good-naturedly at the camera. Jeesh. He really _was_ keeping up a friendly front for all his fans.

Julia grinned wickedly. "Sure. Of course there isn't." She pointed to Kenny. "Kenny'll be the main cameraman here on the island. He'll be the one following you around as you do your daily challenges or whatever, unless you guys split up. Then backup cameramen will be filming different people. All cameramen will be gone by nightfall."

Everyone nodded to show they understood this.

"Good. Now, in addition to the footage taken by Kenny, we also have hidden cameras installed everywhere on the island. We call them Island Eyes. Don't wear yourself out by trying to look for them and tear them down, and please, no paranoid behavior. Just act naturally and pretend they're not there. We obviously won't put Eyes at places where you do your business, so don't worry about that." Julia thought for a moment. "Oh yeah. There's also the confession hut in the middle of the island, near the shelters. You're expected to go there and pour out your thoughts to the camera for 10 minutes, twice a day at least. Talk about anything. If there's something on your mind, we want to hear it."

"That's probably where the backstabbing happens," Laurie said casually. Hermione saw Alex shoot her a nervous look. Personally, she felt the same way. She hoped that Laurie wouldn't say too much about her, and vowed to herself to be as friendly as possible to the other two.

Julia gave Laurie an appraising look before continuing. "That brings me to the audience. Now, the confession hut is where you can sway the viewers to vote for you in the end. As winning the challenges on the island only give you an advantage over less than half of your total result, the rest depends on the votes of people who watch the show. So the more the audience loves you, the more chance you have of winning the million-dollar prize." She cleared her throat. "That's about it, I think. Good luck to all three of you. OK, now we're going to shoot the formal introductions to you guys. Don't forget to smile."

Kenny walked up to each of them. When he reached Hermione, he gave her a little round, black object on a string. "Put it around your neck," he said. "It's a mike." She nodded and put it over her head. Her dress was too low at the neck for her to tuck it in, so she just had to settle for it hanging in plain view.

When Kenny was behind the camera again, Hermione, Alex and Laurie all beamed like they were supposed to and did their best to tidy themselves up as he turned on the camera. Laurie smiled warmly at him and struck a pose before breaking into giggles. Hermione just waved, while Alex gave the camera a grin. They all turned to Draco as Julia mouthed at them and pointed towards the host.

"Alright, everyone. Welcome to Castaway Island," Draco started, turning towards Hermione. Alex mouthed 'Wiiiiiiiilllsoooon' at her and she giggled. Both of them shut up as Julia gave them a glare, but judging by how Draco's mouth was twitching at the side he had heard it too. "I already know the others -" he nodded at Alex and Laurie, who smiled back. "- so that leaves you. I'm Draco Malfoy." He offered a hand to Hermione after a slight hesitation, smirking.

Hermione had to admit that he was good with the camera - he knew when he could pull faces and when to beam at the viewers. He smirked freely because the camera was now filming a 3/4 angle of her face, so Draco's was unseen. She tried to make her smile look sincere and ended up with an odd expression on her face. "I'm Hermione Granger, from London," she said as amiably as she could.

"Just say your name," Julia mouthed. Hermione blushed and nodded. Draco looked amused at this as the other two grinned.

"OK, Alex, Laurie," Draco said, clapping his hands together. "Tell Hermione what you learned about making shelter and boiling water."

"Oh, oh, I know this!" Alex said excitedly. "Um, the best places to build a shelter against is a rock face or a slightly hollowed out tree trunk. You have to make sure it's firm, so it won't fall down during a storm." He went on to explain the types of plantation that was good to use to build the shelter. Hermione's stomach rumbled quietly.

Draco smiled at the other man as the four started walking. "Good. Laurie, explain how to make water drinkable?"

"Uh... er... is it filter the water?" she tried, looking like she was desperately going through her memories of the previous day for the answer. "I forgot."

"That's right," the host said, frowning slightly at her forgetfulness. "Do try to remember next time, OK?"

"Sure," Laurie replied, batting her lashes provocatively at him. "Anything you say, Draco."

He didn't seem to notice her flirting as he turned to Hermione and explained to her how to get clean water. She nodded like a good girl but her mouth was watering for food. She hadn't eaten since she got off the plane last night, because she was too caught up in preparations. "Got any food?" she asked Draco as they reached the shelters. "Coconuts? Crabs? Anything? At this point I'm not going to be too fussy."

Draco grinned. "Great, because the only food I have around here is grubs."

She froze. "Did I just hear you say 'grubs'?" At her words Alex stopped to stare at Draco, and Laurie looked like she was going to be sick.

"That's right. They're not poisonous or anything, so don't worry," he laughed.

Personally, that was the least of her concerns. "Uh, don't we have coconut trees or anything _normal_ to eat?"

Draco tsked. "We're on an island, what can you expect? You can't just hang around hoping that you'll find your favorite dishes somehow magicked to your shelter. You'll have to make do with whatever you have."

"So... our lunch is grubs," Hermione said weakly. "I think I'll pass."

He raised an eyebrow. "Passing on your first challenge already?"

Hermione glared. "Well, you should have told me it was a challenge. Of course I'm not going to go down without a fight. I mean, it's just a few grubs I have to get down, right?" Even as she spoke, she knew she didn't sound very convincing.

"That's more like it," he said, and walked over to a pile of timber where a few glowing embers resided. "Well, let's get started. You first mission is to find the grubs and bring them back on a leaf or something like it. They're called fruit grubs, and are fat and white in color. You'll most likely find some on fruit trees, hence the name." He looked up to the sky. "Your time starts... _now_!"

Hermione cursed under her breath as she followed the others into the forest and started her search. "Just so you know," Kenny's calm voice said from behind her, making her jump. "the microphone you're wearing is very sensitive."

She blushed again and told herself to shut up.

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

"Is this thing on? OK, I'll just pretend it is." Hermione glanced at the red light coming from the confession cam and licked her lips to wet them. She missed her lip balm. "Um, hi everyone. I'm Hermione, as you probably already know." She waved at the camera, beaming. "A big hello to my friends and family. Mum, Dad, don't worry, I'm fine. Karen, thanks for catsitting. I hope my cat is still alive and well. Remember not to let it near your leather furniture. Tony and Alison, try to keep my job at the library and don't cause too much trouble." She paused. "And uh... Krum. Thanks for taking me to the airport. I appreciate it. I'll... er, see you when I get back."

She played with a lock of hair as she thought of what to say next. Self-consciously she fingered the hem of the dress, and grinned. "I probably look a mess, don't I? Oh well, I can't wait to get a proper bath here. I'm hoping there's a warm spring here or something at least."

"Right now, things here on Castaway Island are great. Alex, Laurie and Draco are making dinner." She made a face. "That reminds me of the grub lunch. It wasn't too bad, actually, for those of you who have a sensitive stomach. It tasted kinda like very fatty pork. After it was cooked, I mean." She made a face and laughed. "I wouldn't want to eat raw grubs!"

Hermione looked to the ceiling before remembering Malfoy. "Oh yeah!" she laughed again. "Well, you girls must be yelling at me to get to the good stuff already. I'll tell you this - Draco is... as charming and good-looking in real life as he is on the shows." She almost wanted to gag but kept a small smile on her face. "He's cooking potatoes at the moment, I think." She grinned. "That's something he's good at. Cooking potatoes, I mean. Mmm, I can smell them from here," she said, making a big show of sniffing the air and putting on a I'm-in-heaven expression. "I bet it'll be great. Anyway, there's a lot of sunlight here, good for tans, I suppose. Let's hope I don't get sunburnt... but shade is nice too!"

Realising that she was babbling, Hermione giggled to herself. "I think I've said enough for today," she said, standing up. "Well, look out for more confessions from me. Sorry if I rambled, I'm nearly delirious with hunger." She laughed. "See ya guys!"

She stayed for a moment to wait for the red light to go out, or anything to suggest that her time was up, but when nothing happened she shrugged and headed back towards the shelters.

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"No, break the moss up more and put it to the side!"

"Why don't _you _rub the sticks together faster? You're just banging them together uselessly."

When she got back to camp, she found Alex and Laurie attempting to light a fire while Draco watched, sitting in the sand next to them with an exasperated look on his face. Kenny crouched nearby, slowly zooming in to their failing efforts to light a fire for their dinner. When Hermione sat down beside them, he glanced at her and smiled. "Hi," he said innocently. "Just been to the confession hut?"

"Yeah," she nodded, and pointed towards the other two. "They look like they're having trouble, aren't they?" Inwardly, she was grateful that Draco hadn't said anything about their rather scratchy 'first' meeting. It was embarrassing enough just thinking about it by herself - she didn't need _him_ to talk about it too.

The corner of Draco's mouth curved upwards slightly. "Yeah, they are. At this rate, dinner'll be a long wait yet." He gestured towards a pile of pots and pans, and shells placed near the would-be fire. "At least we found some treasure around the beach. We won't have to eat out of our hands. That is, _when_ we have a dinner to eat at all."

"Great," she muttered, thinking of her waterproof matches sitting in her bag, which was next to her right now. She counted to thirty, and when Laurie and Alex still hadn't even produced any smoke, grabbed her handbag and produced the lipstick tube. Kenny noticed this, and, bored of the two attempting to make the fire, panned towards her.

Draco raised an eyebrow. "Preparing to look good for the camera?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "No - for this," she said triumphantly as she opened the top of the tube and gathered the matches and they fell onto her lap. Draco's eyes widened and Kenny looked amused behind his camera. "Ta-daa! Easy fire. Next time you can start a flame from scratch, but today I'm really hungry."

Alex and Laurie stopped to look at her in wonder and cheered as Draco scraped the waterproof wax off a match and struck it, making a fire immediately. Hermione smiled in satisfaction as she watched. Dinner was going to be ready _very_ soon.

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After she finished her last sweet potato and threw her shell back to the pile, Hermione lay on the sand and sighed. It was a pretty good meal, considering their location. A bit of flavoring and it would have tasted perfect.

As she lay there, she thought on what she had gotten herself into by coming here. She was enjoying herself so far and wondered what would be coming up, the challenges that lay ahead and the obstacles to the prize. Also there was a certain blond man to consider. She had to admit, Draco's behavior was better than she would have expected from him. Then again, she _had_ last talked to him properly about four years ago. Four years was a long time - enough for someone to change their personality for the better.

And what of the other contestants? Alex was obviously the one that every man could relate to - not very rich or handsome, but friendly as hell and very enthusiastic. Laurie, on the other hand, was the wealthy, beautiful young woman who was most definitely a city girl - and was proud to play the part.

If the judges had picked people based on stereotypes, then what about Hermione herself?

She couldn't answer that.

"Don't fall asleep on the beach," Draco's voice floated into her thoughts. "You'll catch a cold."

"Like you'd care?" she replied sarcastically. Kenny had gone for the night so Hermione didn't care too much about their 'sexual tension' being caught on film. There _was_ the Island Eyes, but she was too tired to care about them.

Draco smirked. "Aw, don't be like that," he said cajolingly. "What did I ever do to _you_?"

Hermione recalled all the times at school when he'd bullied her and her friends and chose not to answer.

At that moment Laurie bounced towards them. "Hiya! I didn't interrupt anything, did I?" she said wickedly when she sat down to join them. Alex had gone to sleep already, complaining straight after dinner that he was dog-tired for some reason, so they _had_ been alone. Hermione was annoyed to find herself turning pink and shook her head.

"Interrupt anything?" Draco answered lightly. "Why would there be anything to interrupt?"

Laurie smiled. "It's all good, then." She yawned. "Man, I'm beat. Should we call it a day and go to bed?" She glanced at the makeshift leaf and grass beds inside the shelters and grimaced. "Well, what I guess we'd _call_ a bed."

Hermione laughed. "I'm not too eager to sleep on those myself," she said, grinning. Then she realized that there were only three tents. Was one of them going to sleep outside? Maybe she would have to catch that cold anyway. "Uh, Draco, where do I sleep? Am I meant to make my own shelter?"

Draco shook his head. "You'll be sleeping with me," he answered.

"Did you hear what you just said?" Hermione frowned at him, wondering if it was a slip of the tongue.

"Yes, I did," he said, looking irritated. "I _said_ you're sleeping with me. In my shelter, I mean. Your clothes are still wet, and if I share my clothes with you while your dress dries, we'll just be a little underclothed, that's all." He looked at her. "Don't worry, I won't take advantage of you or anything. I promise. It's just a basic survival tactic - otherwise you'll be all damp when you wake up tomorrow morning." His eyes added, _not that I'd want to take advantage of you, or anything._

"I'm not sure I trust your promises," she muttered. "Can't I sleep in Laurie's shelter?"

"Sorry, Lois' orders," Draco said, grimacing. "She said because you guys are competing, it's better to keep the contestants away from each other."

Hermione shut her eyes and then opened them again. Draco was already walking towards his shelter. She guessed that he expected her to follow.

"Well, aren't _you_ a fast mover, girl," Laurie said with a nudge and a grin. "You sure knew what you were doing when you wore that dress, didn't you?"

"I didn't..." Hermione winced and started to protest that she didn't pick her outfit, but decided not to bother. It was unlikely Laurie would listen, anyway. "Urgh."

Laurie winked at her as she left for her own shelter. "Sleep tight."

Sighing, Hermione headed into Draco's shelter. Inside the bed was larger than it appeared, she was relieved to note. At least this meant she wouldn't have to get too close to Draco without sleeping on the sand. "You tired?" he asked her as she came in. Hermione shrugged and glanced around for an Island Eye. There was bound to be one in here. Brash as she was, Julia sure knew how to make good television. "Well, try to sleep. It'll be even more of an exhausting day tomorrow." He grinned at her.

Hermione made a face. When Draco quietly covered his microphone with his hand and indicated she do the same, she gave him a questioning look as she obeyed. "What is it?"

"Let me just clear things up. Sorry about Julia and her 'sexual tension' thing. You don't have to worry about it."

"Oh, um, of course, you neither," she gabbled. "I mean, you shouldn't worry about it either."

He smirked. "Sure." He uncovered his mike again and started taking off his shirt. The sight of his bare chest made Hermione's pulse quicken in alarm. Was she wrong about this show? Was she going to be forced to have sex with Draco on camera? The very idea made her shudder and she involuntarily took a step back. "What's wrong?" he asked as he gave her his t-shirt. "Here, put this on. It'll warm you up."

She was mortified by her assumptions as she took the shirt. "N-nothing - thanks," she said quickly, turning around to change. "Don't you dare peek!" She unzipped the dress and pulled it off, putting the t-shirt on as fast as she could.

"I wouldn't," Draco said airily behind her, amusement in his voice. "Are you _still_ insecure about your body? Let me assure you, you've filled out quite nicely since the last time I mocked you about your lack of curves."

Hermione blushed, thankful for the darkness. "I don't need _you_ to tell me that," she said as confidently as she could. "Now let's just get to sleep."

"Whatever you want," he replied softly, and lay down. She hesitated, then decided just to lie wherever was comfortable. However, this meant she had to sleep against Draco's chest, because it was the warmest spot. Sighing in surrender after trying out several other spots on the 'bed', she gave up and rolled back towards Draco, making sure to keep her back to him.

When Hermione found a snug spot against his chest (she could feel his heartbeat calmly beating against her back), an arm draped itself around her. The other arm found a position under her head. Now her head rested comfortably in the crook of his shoulder. She thought about struggling away, but couldn't be bothered and closed her eyes, breathing in the faint smell of Draco as she slept. A smiled stole onto her face as she snuggled backwards unconsciously in her sleep.

If this was how she'd spend her nights here, it wouldn't be so bad after all.

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That was a pretty long chapter! I would have ended it earlier but decided not to. It's always cute to end a chapter with the characters falling asleep, lol. But that's just my opinion.

And I realize Hermione and Draco are a bit OoC when it comes to their past - but I can't have them carrying out a hugely complicated and long romance like 10WtKDM, so I made them more tolerant to each other.

Tell me what you thought of this chappy in a review, please. :D


	3. The Fishing

**S U R V I V O R**

Based on the book 'I Will Survive' by Samantha Connolly.

**A/N: **Please go here if you reviewed my previous chapter: www . livejournal . com /users /drakulya /1590 . html (you don't have to, but you should if you asked a question in your review last time).

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**Chapter Three**

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The next morning, Draco woke to bright sunlight glaring into his face. He blinked and moved his free arm to shield his eyes as he struggled to move over, unsuccessfully. He was annoyed at the dead weight on his arm, and was about to shove whatever was lying there off when he suddenly remembered the events of last night. Hermione, with her wet clothes. Him offering for her to sleep in his tent so she wouldn't catch hypothermia.

Oh.

He glanced down and stared for a moment at the young woman lying in his arms. Chuckling quietly to himself, he thought about their 'relationship' back in high school. No one would have guessed that they'd ever be in a situation like this one, no matter how much money they were offered. Draco and Hermione were the famous school rivals (and bitter enemies), and though Draco was better looking boy-wise than she was girl-wise, Hermione's brains excelled his by a long margin. That wasn't to say he was stupid, but it was the sad truth.

Draco hadn't initially wanted to do an island TV show like this, with other contestants apart from himself. Before, it was always him against the elements, and he loved it that way. Now there were three more squabbling people to cater for - well, two, since Hermione wasn't nearly as easy to piss off as the others. Which was a good thing, he supposed; if all three shouted and screamed at each other, he'd probably dive headfirst off the nearest cliff.

It was Julia who had thought up the idea of this show. Draco would have rejected it, but to tell the truth he was a little afraid of the woman. Although she wasn't in a position high enough to fire him directly, Julia still had the power, and the cunning, to make the rest of his career miserable. Working with her was a kind of torture; working _against_ her he didn't even want to think about.

But he had to admit, he was starting to find this quite interesting. When put in a life-threatening situation, it was always fascinating to see what people will do just to survive. Who'll crack under the strain, who'll betray, and who'll surprise? While they were with him it was unlikely they'd starve to death anytime soon, so the million-dollar prize was introduced to provoke the contestants' natural sense of greed, which would ultimately result in backstabbing and betrayal.

Hermione stirred slightly, and Draco snapped back to reality from his thoughts. The sun was in his eyes again and when he moved his head around, he saw Kenny kneeling in the shelter entrance, silently filming them. He chuckled. "Give us a minute to get up, will you?"

When he started to sit up, Hermione opened her eyes blearily and looked around. She laughed helplessly at the camera and turned back to Draco, looking embarrassed.

The next minute, she ran out of the hut, screaming at the top of her lungs.

"Did you see that? It's gigantic!" she exclaimed to cameraman, who nodded, looking amused. "It's not funny, Kenny! I nearly had a heart attack!"

Draco glanced around, a small part of his mind wondering if anything of his 'down there' caused her reaction. If it had, it was pretty tactless of her to make such a big deal out of it... but his fears were extinguished when he spotted a small python slithering away from their sleeping spot, its tongue darting in and out. Involuntarily, he sighed in relief and headed outside into the bright sunlight. "It's OK, it's gone now," he announced. Hermione stared suspiciously at him from a few metres away. "It wasn't that big anyway. Just a little jungle snake, looking for warmth and companionship - looks like it found it with us. Harmless, really."

"Yeah well, don't forget to invite me to your wedding with it, then. Wouldn't miss it for the world." Now that the coast was clear, Hermione felt a little embarrassed at her screaming over such a small thing. Why had she made such a big deal? Maybe it was the fact that she'd woken up with her former worst enemy on a tropical island. That _does_ tend to make people jittery.

He rolled his eyes. "OK, OK. Let's just pretend nothing happened and go make breakfast." Hermione nodded and Kenny moved the camera around slowly to follow the two as they walked slowly across the sand.

Just then, Draco spotted Laurie and Alex emerging from their own shelters, looking confused. Of course, that shriek _would _still take some explaining to the others.

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"For the last time, I was not trying to molest Hermione, so will you please stop saying I was." Draco glared up at the other two, and pointed at the trees. "We're on camera, you know."

The expression on Laurie's face showed that she wasn't at all convinced. She folded her arms across her chest and said, "Well, I'm just implying that it was an awfully ear-splitting shriek to be caused by a little snake."

Alex chuckled, and Hermione gave him a dirty look that sent him scurrying off to 'collect more dry grass'. "It wasn't little, it was _huge_. It was mutant, even. You'd have been scared too."

Laurie waved a hand airily. "I'm not really scared of those things."

"I have a phobia of-" Alex spoke up, before stopping mid-sentence. There was silence, broken only by the occasional hiss of the water pot.

Draco looked at him understandingly. "You think I'd use it against you, right?" When Alex nodded miserably, he smiled. "Don't worry about it, Alex. I'm not saying I won't ever think of using your phobia against you, but I'm not going to force it out of you either." The bespectacled man looked a bit happier at his words.

"I have a phobia of pizza, please don't make me eat pizza or I'll freak out," Laurie said, glancing at Draco hopefully.

He gave her a disappointed look. "Only the second day, and you're already wanting pizza?"

Hermione cleared her throat. "I, too, find it unthinkable for the thrill of eating sweet potatoes to ever wear off, having had them for dinner and breakfast already."

Draco raised his hands in surrender. "OK, OK. I promise we'll be eating other food soon. I saw some banana trees and papaya bushes inland. It should be the right season for them to be bearing fruit. Plus we'll be fishing, and catching other seafood like shells or crabs. And better yet, I saw some hoofprints that looked suspiciously like..."

"Horses," Laurie provided helpfully.

"There's no horses on deserted islands, idiot," Alex said in response. The blond woman sent a glare at him, which he returned, and soon they were bickering again.

Hermione shook her head and looked at Draco. "What were the hoofprints?"

"Wild pigs," he announced, smiling gratefully at her for listening. At his words, Alex and Laurie shut up and looked surprised. "Yes, that means we can have pork for dinner - if we can catch them. They shouldn't be too hard to kill, since they haven't seen humans before and should be relatively tame."

"Yeah, _you_ can catch them," Laurie said, wrinkling her nose. "I personally don't find chasing wild pigs around the island too appealing."

Alex turned to Draco eagerly. "Ooh, can I? Can I? It'll be really fun!"

Draco looked amused at Alex's childlike enthusiasm. "Sure." He was surprised by, but liked, the fact that despite the fact that the wild pigs could easily bowl him over and shred him, Alex was still eager to catch them.

Just then, Hermione glanced down at her lap as something in the sand pricked her leg, and realized she was still wearing the shirt Draco had lended her last night. Facing the sun, she took it off and handed it to him with a dutiful smile. "It's getting really warm. Do you think we could go swimming later?" she fanned her face for effect, and sorted through her evening bag to produce a thin tube of sunscreen. "Taadaa!" Hermione applied some to her face, arms and legs, and offered some to the others.

Draco declined. "It's OK. I'm used to the outdoors."

"I'm old friends with the tan-bed, so I'm alright too." Laurie winked. "No tan lines."

Alex took a while to look up and notice Hermione's invitation. When he finally did, she was looking irritated, but kept it half-hidden behind a forced smile. He apologized quickly and took the sunscreen after a slight hesitation, as if wondering whether to look cool and refuse, or be practical and protect himself from sunburn.

A second later, the sound of an engine became audible, and the four glanced up to see Julia waving at them from the top of a motorboat. As soon as the hull touched dry sand the producer leapt off with a ballerina-like grace. Hermione looked on, amazed, at her high-heels and wondered what kind of ballet training Julia'd received as a child. "Hiya, people! Look, the first responses from the test audience are here! We got them off the website."

Hermione had nearly forgotten that they were being taped and 'broadcasted' to a mock audience, and glanced at the sheets of paper in Julia's hands. Laurie and Alex seemed just as surprised but pleased that they were getting comments already.

"OK, let's start with Hermione. Guess what? You're a hit with the test viewers! They all thought you were really chatty-" Hermione grimaced when she recalled her babbling to the confession cam - "- and nice in the confession hut. Plus they love your fiestiness. And Draco, you even got some stick for rescuing her when she obviously didn't need it!" Julia giggled. "Great job!"

Draco looked nonplussed. "What? It wasn't my fault I thought she was drowning. You'd have thought it too if you saw her."

"Thanks for the compliment," Hermione said sarcastically. "Gee, maybe I should pursue an acting career after all."

Julia continued, seemingly unaware that they had spoken. "I know, I can't believe it either. Isn't it adorable? She's like some kind of heroine of the people. They love her fresh spirit and cheeky talk-back attitude." Hermione glanced at her, surprised, but the woman continued talking. "It's going even better than I thought. This show'll be a hit for sure!" She let a dreamy look slide over her face, then turned her eyes to the brunette. "Hermione, because of your popularity, I'll let you get away with smuggling those stuff into the bag. Naughty girl!"

Behind her, Laurie made a little impatient coughing noise. Julie shifted her lazer gaze to the blonde. "Getting impatient with me isn't going to earn you any brownie points, Laurie." She scanned her paper, and smiled. "But we've been hearing some very positive things about your looks. Generally speaking, the test audience all think you're quite a beauty."

Laurie lowered her lashes modestly, but Draco noticed that she didn't exactly blush.

Alex tried to get Julia's attention. "How about me? What do they think?"

"Er, they like you too," was her dismissive response. Then, she brightened. "Well, Draco. What do you have in store for our contestants? I'm sure the viewers would love to see something dramatic and dangerous."

"We're going to go fishing," Draco explained, pointing to the coils of fishing line that he held in one hand. "To see what they can do."

Julia smiled pleasantly at him. "Of course, fishing. Why don't you just shoot me right here and now? Fishing is the most boring thing I can think of for you to do. You're on an island, so why not make the most of the exciting things you can do here?" She thought for a moment. "Hang on, I'll go ask the boatmen if they can somehow get some electric eels or jellyfish into these waters. That would make for much better television than plain old fishing."

Draco quickly told the others what to do as Julia wandered around. "I'm going to give you each a length of fishing line. The rest you can do yourselves. Remember, this kind of counts as a life and death situation, since if we don't get fish to eat we'll starve. The first one who comes back here with a fish wins this challenge. You guys ready?" He glanced around at the others.

"Oh yeah, I'm ready," Alex said excitedly. "This is gonna be great!"

"Hermione?" Draco questioned.

She smiled lukewarmly at him. "I'm fine. Don't worry, I've seen you do it before on TV - I watch it every week!" She trudged off determinedly, fishing line dangling in her right hand.

Draco watched her go, surprised that she'd actually watch his show after bearing a grudge against him for so long. He shrugged at turned to Laurie. "Well, that leaves you. I'd better help you get started." He placed a hand on her arm and lead her towards the shore.

It was safer than staying with Julia and her eels and jellyfish, definitely.

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"'Don't worry, I've seen you do it before on TV - I watch it every week!'" Hermione sneered, before cringing in embarassment again. She hadn't meant to let that slip. Anyway, it was her friends Ginny and Lavender who watched it religiously week after week, not her. Well, maybe Draco would just interpret it as a sign to tell him that she was alright, and didn't need his help... or he might think she was another fangirl of his. Oh, no.

She sat at the edge of the rocks, the seawater lapping at her calves. It was fairly shallow and if she stood, it would come up to her waist most probably. She had found a long, strong stick from underneath a large tree and had fastened the fishing line to it. The bait took a bit of work; she had to dig up several worms before she stopped squealing in disgust and flinging them around everytime she had to squish one onto the hook. But now all she had to do was sit there. There was no sign of fish anywhere, and Hermione doubted there would be for a long time.

Waggling her toes, she glanced over at the beach, where Draco was helping Laurie out. The latter was knee-deep in water and had taken off everything except her underwear, which, as expected, was lacy and very sexy. Hermione scowled involuntarily as Laurie pressed a hand on Draco's arm, laughing at something he'd said. What was so funny about fishing? She forced herself to look away and was startled when she spotted a shadow flickering in the water.

"Here, fishy fishy," she murmured, lowering the bait a little, hoping to lure the fish onto it. Seagulls screeched above her and occasionally dived into the water to emerge with a wriggling fish. She looked on jealously at them and fought the urge to hook one of them around the head and steal its prize.

Her heart sped up as something tugged at her line and she slowly wound it up. Hopefully it wasn't going to be something worthless like an old boot. Holding her breath, she grinned hopefully as the tail of a fish - definitely not an imitation or a trick of the light - flapped out of the surface. When she managed to catch the fish after it was lifted high enough, she whooped in triumph, causing Draco to stop and glance at her. "Look, guys!" she cheered. "Draco! I caught one! Does that mean I win the challenge?"

Draco and Laurie waved back, but eventually his became more frantic and panicky. "Hermione, look out behind you!"

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"God, is everything here crazy?" Hermione grumbled, rubbing her wounds. "First a snake seeks comfort with us, then a flock of seagulls attack me."

Draco laughed. "I guess they just like you. At least we don't have the three things that make life really miserable: rats, mosquitos and cockroaches. It'd be even worse if any of _those_ seeked companionship or attacked you." He added a stock cube to the crabs that they were boiling. The shell of the crab slowly turned redder and redder.

Hermione glanced apprehensively at the twitching crabs next to her. "Wow, these are huge. I bet they could take off a fin- _OUCH!_" She had hardly finished her sentence before one grabbed onto her little finger with its claws, trying desperately to hang on as she shook it violently to get it off. "Owwww! Let go, you stupid crab, or I'll smash you onto the rocks! I mean it, I really do," she threatened as she tried to pull it off.

"Here," Draco said as he pressed down on the base of the crab's claws to force it open. He threw it into the pot, despite it being already full. "Better not risk having that one running around. Are you OK, Hermione?" Draco took her hand and examined her finger, making sure it wasn't too deep. "I'll get you a bandage." When Hermione shook her head vehemently, saying it was fine and didn't need it, he squeezed her finger hard until she yelped in pain. "Told ya so," he said, smirking.

She glared at him and snatched her finger away, her hand tingling at his touch. _Stop it,_ she told herself firmly, resisting the urge to slap herself. _He's just being a bully. It's not like he was trying to hold your hand or something._

At that moment, Laurie emerged from the forest, her ten minutes at the confession hut done. "Mmmmm, something smells really nice," she commented as she sat down next to Alex, who poked the fire uninterestedly. "Did I get burned today?" Laurie slid the shoulder of her shirt off and turned her back to the others. "My skin feels a bit hot."

Alex's face turned pink and he poked at the embers more vigorously until sparks flew everywhere. "Eek!" Hermione yelped as a piece of ember darted towards her foot. Draco quickly pulled her aside. "Thanks... Alex, be careful."

Laurie smirked at the reaction she'd caused and glanced at Draco. Hermione noticed that he looked the same as always. There was no red on his cheeks, nor did he seem dreamy or anything else. Strangely, she felt slightly triumphant. "You guys, I'm going to help Hermione build her shelter. I'm not sure she'd want to spend another night in mine," Draco said, smiling slightly. "So I'll let the crab simmer for a while. Alex, Laurie, don't let it get overcooked, OK?"

They nodded as Hermione stood up to follow him. She smiled, telling herself that the spark of joy in her mind was because she could finally get some privacy, _not_ because of the sour look on Laurie's face as they had left.

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Hermione knew that when Draco touched her it was purely platonic and she should be repulsed. But she couldn't help enjoying it. Like now, as he put his hands gently on her waist and shifted her over so that he could weave a couple of new branches into her shelter. It was coming along well, she was pleased to note, despite the strange mixture of emotions concerning the blonde man next to her.

"Well, looks like we're done," he announced after a while, grinning. "This has got to be one of the best huts I've helped to make yet."

She smiled back at him, another thought jumping into her brain. The wind blew at her legs and she, again, hated Julia for making her wear this skimpy outfit. But because she was wearing this, she thought it might have triggered at least _some_ kind of reaction from Draco. Hermione had tested it out on Alex for a while before and it seemed to work perfectly on him. Whenever something called for her to bend down, her eyes had darted towards him as she bent as low as it was acceptable, and Alex couldn't seem to resist sneaking peeks every now and then.

And yet, no matter how suddenly she turned or bent down, she hadn't once caught Draco staring at her back or front views. Which just proved her theory that Draco, who worked in an industry that required looks, had seen too many beautiful women to be swayed by someone half-flashing at him.

Hermione still couldn't figure out why she was doing all this just to get his attention. After all, weren't they supposed to be childhood enemies? But it was hard to resist that sexy smirk, no matter how much her brain told her she hated him. After, she _was_ a woman.

"Hey, thanks for making me an elevated 'bed'," she said. "As much as I enjoy the company of reptiles I think I'll pass on the chance to sleep with them again."

Draco laughed. "You're welcome. I'm hoping the extra banana leaves we put on the roof will hold in case of rain. Otherwise your shelter'll be soaked!"

She smiled at him. "I appreciate that." Their eyes met and she felt a burst of warmth low in her stomach.

"C'mon, let's go back. I think we deserve the delicious crab dinner." He grabbed her wrist and pulled her through a hole in the foliage and onto a path. "Be careful, there're a lot of thorny plants around here."

_Oh, stop imagining things,_ she scolded herself, blushing slightly as they started back to where Laurie and Alex were.

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"I still can't believe I caught so many fish! And I hardly even tried - just stood there," Alex announced for the twentieth time as they settled down to eat. He nibbled on the meat of a fish and sighed. "Ahhh, finally. Something non-vegetable. Laurie, how does it taste?"

Laurie glared at him. "I said, it's brilliant, the best thing I've ever tasted in my life. Now will you stop rubbing it on my face that I didn't manage to catch even _one_ fish, while you caught three?"

Hermione smiled at the heavy sarcasm that nobody could possibly have missed.

"You shouldn't feel too bad," Alex said comfortingly. "After all, I have a slight advantage over you, because I'm a man."

There was a moment where no one spoke. Then Hermione pulled up the arm of her dress and flexed her biceps, showing some very toned muscles. "I'll be happy to take you on in an arm wrestle, if you like," she said pleasantly, looking as innocent as a lamb.

Draco laughed, and whistled. "You're in so much trouble, Alex. She's gonna beat the crap out of you for being so sexist."

_Great, now he thinks I'm an ox, _Hermione thought. _Not exactly a good way to impress him. _

"Two hours in the gym every day," Laurie spoke up. "I bet I could waste you as well."

Alex gave Draco a nervous, pleading look that clearly asked for help. The latter shrugged, grinning. "You got yourself into this mess, you get yourself out of it. I'm not sure I could go against any of them actually, by the looks of things." Hermione and Laurie laughed at Alex's hopeless and defeated expression.

"OK, OK," he said apologetically. "I'm sorry. I don't train in the gym and I have the muscles of a ten year-old girl."

Hermione cleared her throat.

"Ten year-old boy!" Alex corrected himself quickly before any of the women did anymore than raise their eyebrows. "You can arm wrestle each other if you like, I wouldn't stand a chance against any of you." He looked a bit ashamed.

Laurie finished off her fish and wiped her hands on some leaves. "The good thing about being a female is that you don't have to compete to prove yourselves."

Hermione smiled, but inside she felt horribly deceitful. Laurie was so fun and carefree - she was definitely in competition with her.

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Draco found a long stick and drew a map on the wet sand. "There's a lagoon here on the island, about here. Our shelters are over there, so it's a few minutes walk. It's elevated but there's vines and everything, so you should be able to get there easily enough. There's also another beach diagonally across from the lagoon, and a couple of shallow caves around there somewhere."

Hermione felt his gaze on her and she colored a little, and quickly glanced at the diagram. "I've been meaning to ask you. Do you know exactly where the Island Eyes are?"

He shook his head, amused. "Don't worry about them too much," he said. "You've already heard what Julia said. Don't act paranoid, because they won't be anywhere private. If you stress about them you won't have as much fun here as you might."

"Easy for you to say, you're not trying to look good so you can win a million dollars," grumbled Laurie. "Can't you tell us anything about the locations of the secret cameras?"

"That's why they're secret," Draco smiled. "So you're just here for the money? And here I was, thinking you might actually want to learn something from this experience."

Laurie flapped her hands. "I do! I mean, I really wanted to have some experience about living in peace and harmony with nature, but the money is appealing too." She sighed. "Well, really, I'm in it for the publicity. You can't imagine how hard it is these days to get a break in the acting business."

"I'm like Laurie, I'll take the money if I get it," Alex piped up. "But that's not my main goal. It's really my last chance before I..." he trailed off sheepishly.

"Oh my God! You're going to die, aren't you?" Laurie said in horror. "That's why this is your last chance... before you die!"

Hermione smacked the woman on the arm gently. "Have some tact, Laurie," she hissed. "I mean, he _is_ going to die. No point making him feel any worse."

Alex looked lost. "Wha-? Who said I'm going to die?"

All three stared at him. "You mean you're not?" Hermione managed to say.

"No! I'm just saying it's my last chance before me and my girlfriend get married, and after that I'll be a family man. It's my final opportunity to be a... a hero." He flushed in embarrassment and looked away.

"Aww, how... heroic," Hermione said, and smiles crept onto their faces.

Draco turned to her. "So, why are you here? Don't tell me you're an aspiring actress or secretly expecting twins?"

Hermione grinned. "Nah. I'm here for the money. I mean, a million bucks, who wouldn't want to win that? I could do all sorts of things with that money. I wouldn't have to work ever again if I used it right."

"So what do you do?" Laurie enquired.

"I'm a librarian."

The other woman put a hand to her mouth, looking shocked. "Oh! A librarian? Hermione, I so shouldn't have teased you about having sex with Draco last night. I'm really sorry."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "I said I'm a librarian, not a _virgin_."

There was a long silence.

She put her face into her hands, blushing crimson. "I really wish I hadn't said that."

Laurie gave a frustrated sigh. "_That's_ what I should have said I was. A virgin with only a month to live. God, _why_ did I speak up first?"

**---xcxsurvivorxcx---**

Phew! That was _enormous_. I don't recall ever writing a chapter this long. This took me ages! So you'd better enjoy it! XD


	4. The Suspicion

**S U R V I V O R**

Based on the book 'I Will Survive' by Samantha Connolly.

**A/N: **Many people have asked me about whether there will be mention of magic in this story. The answer is yes, there will be vague references to Hogwarts and magic in the story, but since they are in a Muggle environment they won't be using any spells. So the mentions will be brief and in only a couple of scenes.

**---xcxsurvivorxcx---**

**Chapter Four**

**---xcxsurvivorxcx---**

Even though nothing on the island would have beat her soft feather bed at home, Hermione had a surprisingly good night's sleep after her own shelter was constructed. Without her knowing in the night, she had acquired several cuts and scrapes from the tougher bits of tree debris in her makeshift bed. They hadn't been serious enough to wake her up, however, and she was pleased to find no mutant animal in sight when she sat up in the morning, feeling oddly refreshed.

She stretched, and poked her head outside. By now she was feeling a lot more confident around the cameras and waved amiably at Kenny, who was squatted outside her hut. "Good morning!" she said to the camera lens, and was about to head outside when the cameraman quickly pointed to something at her feet. Hermione glanced down and saw a bundle, wrapped in banana leaves. She smiled as she opened the 'package' to find a pair of shoes made with tightly weaved strips of long leaves.

Hermione gingerly tried one on, and found, to her surprise, that they were a perfect fit. She put the other one on and walked around the sand in circles. The shoes protected her feet from the ground and were a welcome change from her stilettos - not that she wore them much in the first place. Grinning madly, she pranced around for a bit to make sure they would hold, and then spotted a piece of bark still attached to the banana leave wrappings. She picked it up and found writing on the other side:

_First one to find me wins the challenge._

So that was what the shoes were for. Draco's concern for the contestants were right; after all, he could be anywhere, and in the search they'd probably end up going up rocking hills and wading through ponds and stuff. She peered at the others' shelters and couldn't tell if their packages were gone already or not, which would mean that they had already started the search.

She glanced at Kenny with raised eyebrows for a while. The two of them held a silent struggle, until finally, the cameraman relented and switched off the camera for a moment. "Alex's already gone - another cameraman is following him, and Laurie's still asleep. He hasn't been gone long, though, so you still have a chance." He started to put on his earphones again.

"Wait! Which way did Draco go?" Hermione attempted to wring a bit more info out of him. Kenny rolled his eyes at her, gave her a '_nice try_' look and started up the filming again. She grinned at him and walked over to the burnt out fire from last night to have a drink of water and have some leftover papaya from last night. Hermione longed to wash her hair as she felt bits of sand gritting into her scalp when she stretched. The sun shone directly onto her, making her feel warmer than she already did in Draco's t-shirt.

He'd offered it to her last night again, saying that a skimpy dress like hers was hardly fit to withstand the cold nights on the island. When she'd accepted it, she had tried to look as nonchalant as she could but hopefully no Island Eyes caught her burying her nose in the shirt before she slept, letting his smell fill her nostrils for a moment before quickly glancing up guiltily and removing the shirt from her face.

She blushed slightly at the memory and her eyes fell on the crude map Draco had drawn last night. The word lagoon had passed his lips more than once, so could it be...? Even if she was wrong, it was somewhere to start instead of wandering the island aimlessly for hours. Taking a last look at the picture in the sand, she memorized the vague position of where they were in relation to the lagoon, and headed towards the forest. If she got lost she could always backtrack, and with her new 'shoes' she could walk anywhere she wanted without fear.

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Or so she'd thought. About half an hour of useless trekking later, the camp area disappeared behind Hermione and Kenny and thick undergrowth was all she saw everyway she turned. Thank God there was at least a little path, meaning at least she wouldn't die of starvation here. But then again, who knew how reliable that little-used path was? For all she knew, she and Kenny could be tramping around in circles. When she saw a small clearing, Hermione almost expected to see the shelters again.

Kenny stumbled along behind her, bravely filming and walking blindly at the same time. He couldn't look down to check his footing but at least the embarrassment of being lost _and_ having it broadcasted on national TV wasn't a weight on his shoulders. Hermione willed him to trip and smash his camera, meaning she would be saved the humiliation everybody seeing her getting lost in the woods. When he didn't, she grumbled and swatted some bugs away from her face as they made a dive for her nostrils. "Urgh, yuck!" she complained, then stopped and looked around. "OK, Kenny... er, we'll walk in this direction for another few minutes and if that doesn't work out, we'll... uhhh..."

"We'll what?" the cameraman asked with a thread of weariness in his voice.

Hermione ignored him as she walked briskly ahead. Actually, she was just wondering about that herself.

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"This must be it," Hermione announced to a tired Kenny an hour later. "Draco described the cliff as rugged and this definitely fits the description."

Kenny grunted as he emerged behind her from the bushes. The cameraman had broken down and eaten his lunch earlier, a ham and cheese croissant, and had even offered her big hints to where Draco was. She'd refused; and it took a lot of willpower. After all, who wouldn't want to cheat if it was the easy way out? But Hermione was determined to win this challenge by herself, and if she _did_ cheat no doubt her early popularity with the audience would drop dramatically.

He stared at the cliff face she pointed at. "It's a cliff. You can't possibly expect me to climb a cliff with all this gear."

"Well... you can stay here and wait for me. I'll just look around and be right back down." Hermione noticed that he didn't look to upset about her offer and sat down, a patient look on his face. "Er... so." Looking up at the wall of rock, she spotted vines on one side and headed towards them. She tugged on them and they seemed strong enough. Hermione put one hand on a hole in the cliff and grabbed a vine with the other, praying it wouldn't rip away from the cliff face. When it held, she let out a sigh of relief and started to climb.

She soon found that it was a lot easier than she'd expected at first. The ruggedness of the cliff meant there were lots of holes or ledges for her to grab onto or rest her feet on. The vines provided good support too; none of them had torn off, although some of the thinner ones had threatened to before she quickly grabbed another one. By the time she got to the top and crawled up, sweating and feeling rather pleased with herself, the sun was shining directly overhead and it was quickly becoming the hottest day since she'd arrived on the island. However, when Hermione looked ahead, the spectacular view took her breath away and made the climbing and bushwalking all worth it.

The lagoon was a deep, azure blue. The surface glittered with the sunlight and two small waterfalls on the side made ripples in the water. The air was fresh, tinged with a hint of the jasmine flowers that grew along the sides, the white flowers complementing the blue of the water. The occasional squawk could be heard from the trees, and cicadas hummed loudly in the shade of the leaves.

The surface of the water broke as Draco's blond head appeared. He shook water out of his hair and face, took a breath and dived back in. He didn't seem to have seen her. Hermione shrugged and called out, "Am I first?"

He must have heard her voice because he quickly emerged and glanced at her. "We have a winner!"

"I give all credit to the shoes," she smiled.

Draco laughed, treading water. "Really?" He looked around. "Where's Kenny? I thought you were supposed to have him with you. Him or another cameraman."

Hermione explained how he couldn't get up here. "I think he was feeling fatigued from the walking," she said, grinning. "After all, he was the one carrying around heavy gear while I led him on a wild goose chase."

He laughed again and then beckoned for her to come. "You look like you just ran a marathon - you're sweating a lot. I think you need to cool down. Why don't you come in?" He splashed some water at her, smirking. "Don't worry, you don't have to strip down. We're not skinny-dipping."

"Uh..." Hermione glanced at him and then turned away quickly, face flaming. Oh God. Even though the water blurred the details she'd seen enough to know that Draco was completely naked. But that didn't mean _she'd_ have to do the same. She took off the shoes and dipped a toe cautiously in the water and sighed. Ahh, this was heaven. The lagoon water was cool and ran over her skin like silk. Hermione was shocked to find herself actually considering taking it all off and jumping in. No... not a good idea. The dress might be revealing and not at all suitable for daily wear but at least it kept her decent. She didn't want people to think she was a slut, especially since there were Island Eyes around and getting naked in front of the whole country didn't really appeal to her.

She looked over Draco's head and suddenly spotted a scaly shape gliding slowly towards them underneath the waterfall closest to them. It took her a few seconds before she realized what it was. Hermione sucked in a sharp breath as she took her foot out of the water. Julia had gone too far this time. She knew the producer was hungry for ratings but this was way too dangerous. "Uh oh. Draco, quickly. Swim towards me. Don't make a fuss. Just move."

He looked bewildered but swam towards her as quietly as he could. "What's wrong?" he asked, confused.

Hermione flicked her eyes towards the shape again. Yup, it was definitely coming closer. "Come on, get out."

Draco raised an eyebrow at her. "I don't know if you realize this, but I'm kinda naked here."

She ignored the blush rising up to her cheeks and gestured for him to come. "Well... this is a serious situation, so don't get all shy on me now."

He shrugged. "OK, whatever you say." He put both palms on the edge and hoisted himself up. Hermione had to tear her eyes away as all six feet of Draco emerged from the water - though of course, she'd kept her gaze above the waistline. "Now, will you tell me what the big deal was?"

"Over there," Hermione pointed a shaky finger at the scaly shape. "I'm pretty sure that's an alligator. Scaly and brown... I bet Julia's going to be really happy to hear about _this_."

He glanced over and she saw a muscle twitch at the corner of his mouth. When he looked back at her, there was a odd light in his gray eyes. "I can't believe it, you saved my life," he breathed, gazing at her with worshipping eyes. "I owe it all to you that I'm standing here in one piece."

"It's alright, I'm sure anyone would have done the same," she said, a little self-conscious.

"There's only one way to show my gratitude to you, Hermione," he said breathlessly. "And that's to wrestle the creature with my bare hands." He dived into the water and started swimming towards it.

"Draco! What are you doing?" Hermione yelled, fear rising in her chest. That was an _alligator_; what chance would he have against it? It'd snap his arms and legs off in an instant. She wanted to help him but she was never one to fight anything, let alone a beast like that. "Oh, God..." She heard splashes and from the corner of her eyes saw a flurry of arms and legs... and then, laughter.

What?

"Another mighty foe crushed in the hands of Draco Malfoy," she heard him announce. Hermione looked over and wanted to die. Covering her face, she lay on the ground, hoping it would swallow her up so she didn't have to face him. But, the ground never did obey anyone and stayed solid underneath her as Draco advanced towards the bank of the lagoon.

"I don't believe this," she moaned, giggles escaping her lips despite her embarrassment. "It looked like an alligator from far away."

Draco smirked. "I think all those years of hard study have gotten to your brain. You were hallucinating."

"Was not! It was just a trick of the light," she protested, half wanting to smack him and half wanting to tell him to get some clothes on. After all, there were Island Eyes around and it was a little odd having a conversation with someone that was naked. Especially when that someone was a piece of eye candy like him. "Oh, and by the way, you were butt naked on camera. But that was my fault. I'm sorry."

He laughed. "Don't worry. I wasn't."

"Sorry to contradict you, but you were."

"There're no cameras here," he said lazily as he drifted further away from her, an inviting smile on his lips. "So... coming in?"

Hermione felt the unspoken communication that flashed between them, but unfortunately she hadn't been around him long enough to know what it meant. Did he mean that, since there were no cameras, she could skinny dip with him if she wanted?

Or did he mean something more suggestive? Join me naked here and see what it leads to?

Or did he mean it in an innocent way - if she took off her clothes, would he be surprised or even alarmed and hop out of the water, dressing himself in a hurry whilst casting her disgusted looks? It was hard to decipher the exact meaning of his look but she decided to play it safe. After all, she didn't want him to think she had changed for the worse since he'd last seen her in Hogwarts.

She admitted it; Draco had changed and there was no doubt about the chemistry between them. When even a single touch could make her skin buzz, it was useless for her to keep saying that they were still bitter enemies and she hated his guts. Because it was obviously not true, unless the buzz was because his touch repulsed her. Which she also knew wasn't true.

So she slipped into the lagoon and felt the cool water slide over her skin. It was a magical feeling - after all those days of not having showers and walking around forests and beaches, the sand on her skin had started to irritate her and it was a big relief to be able to clean herself. Hermione resisted the urge to start scrubbing her arms and face with a leaf and opted for a position underneath one of the miniature waterfalls instead, hoping the force of the water would wash the dust on her skin away. When she emerged back in the main pool, Draco was zipping up his jeans and about to put on his shirt. A disappointed bubble rose in her brain but she popped it quickly, swimming over towards the edge.

Was he going to leave her alone here? Her query was answered when he sat down in front of her, with his legs crossed. Obviously he wasn't ready to leave just yet. "Feeling better?"

"Yeah, I feel great." She lay on her back on the edge of the lagoon, half in water and half out. She felt like a mermaid. Except those legs flapping around were definitely hers. A bug flew near her face and she swatted it away, yelping. Draco stared at her, looking bemused. "Nothing. Just a bug. You know, those flying ones?" She made a show of looking around paranoidly. "I just know they're out to get me."

Draco laughed. "I don't think a bug'll kill you. Unless maybe it got in your eye or something."

"So... what's your worst experience on the show? Any near-death experiences?" she asked just to break the silence, which had started off as comfortable but was rapidly turning awkward.

He nodded. "Yeah, you get a lot of that kind of thing when you do my kind of work." He smirked. "I'm lucky. There hasn't been any damage to the more painful parts of my anatomy yet, unlike many survival TV show men." Hermione rolled her eyes at the sign of his old personality from school, but didn't say anything. "But I _have_ acquired some scars that anyone would be proud of." He lifted the leg of his jeans and showed her a small streak of skin that was a different color to the rest of his leg. "This one doesn't count as a scar I got in the non-magical world, but it was when some Auror tried to curse my father when he escaped and got me instead." He grimaced. "But I got him back, of course. Sent him to St Mungos for 2 weeks."

Hermione shivered. "Seems like you still have that violent streak in you."

"But now I've mellowed," he said in a simpering voice. She pretended to gag and he grinned. "Coming into the Muggle community really has helped calm me down. Sure there's loads of annoying people around, but there's definitely less weirdos than in the wizarding world. Not that I don't miss it, of course," he added, looking a little regretful. "Though now there's a death warrant for me in the magical world and I can't risk going back. Not when I'm so rusty with my curses."

"You seem to be doing well enough here," she replied, shrugging. "I'm still living in London and all but I'm also a little out of touch with the wizarding world. Apart from the fact that I still keep in touch with my friends and get the Daily Prophet everyday. I haven't used my wand in months."

He smiled. "Can't say I miss all the chaos back during our school days. The non-magical world is much more peaceful." He looked at her and didn't turn away when she met his gaze. She stared at his eyes, enthralled by their stormy grey-blue color...

Hermione involuntarily tore her eyes away and broke the stillness of the moment when Kenny's voice floated up to interrupt them. "Hello! Can you hear me? Are you two still up there?"

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"Oh good, you guys just woke up," Laurie yawned as she came out of her hut when Hermione, Draco and Kenny had gotten back to camp. "I was positive I'd slept in."

Hermione and Draco exchanged glances but didn't say anything as the other woman picked up the challenge and the flax shoes. "'_First to find me wins the challenge._'" She smiled wryly at Draco. "Gee, that's a tough one."

Sitting down and taking off the 'shoes', Hermione shook out her hair and picked through the selection of fruit that she, Draco and Kenny had picked on their way back. That journey had, thankfully, taken a much shorter time than the first and was straighforward enough so that she could keep replaying the events at the lagoon in her head and not walk into a tree every 2 minutes.

"So what do we do?" Laurie asked. "Shut our eyes and count to 100?"

Draco laughed. "The challenge is over. Hermione found me first, while you were asleep. But don't worry about sleeping in, seems like you needed it."

Hermione almost burst out giggling at the expression on Lauries face. Her mouth was wide open and she was the picture of disbelief and shock-horror. "Oh my God! I can't believe I missed a challenge point! I'm never going to win the million bucks at _this_ rate," she muttered to herself crossly.

"Where's Alex? Is he still sleeping too? Jeesh, last night wasn't _that_ tiring, was it?" Hermione asked, looking around for the bespectacled man.

"Huh? He's gone too? Why didn't you guys wake me up?" Laurie grumbled, annoyed.

Hermione ignored her question and busied herself with sorting out the fruit, telling herself all was fair in love and war.

Draco stood up and headed over to Kenny, who was checking over his camera. A few minutes later he turned back to the women and yelled, "You two stoke the fire and look for firewood. Boil some water too, if you can. I think I'll go see where Alex went off to."

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Hermione had boiled the water and was now looking around her for pieces of wood she could feed to the fire. To her right she could hear Laurie doing yoga in her underwear and going on to Kenny about some ex-boyfriend she'd once had when she was younger at the same time. Funny. She'd always though yoga was a silent kind of activity. Guess not. She tried to block her voice out but it was like trying to stop a fly's buzzing from reaching your ears. Although that example _was_ a little vulgar.

"... my parents took my decision pretty hard, you know... I mean, wanting to become an actress is a pretty far-out thing, because you need a lot of background training and experience and stuff. I wonder how your parents took it when you said you wanted to become a librarian?"

The brunette woman continued to hum to herself and hunt around for useable bits of wood and didn't notice.

"Hermione? I asked how did your parents take it when you said you wanted to be a librarian?" Laurie spoke a little louder and Hermione looked up at her, frowning.

"It's not like it was my life ambition or something. It just kinda happened." She stood up. "Well, I'm going to look for some firewood. There's none around here. See you later, Laurie."

She stood up and started to walk away when Laurie shouted something at her. "Hey, what happened between you and Draco today?"

Hermione froze. "What?" she said cautiously.

"At the lagoon," Laurie said whilst putting her clothes back on. "Did you guys get up to any hanky-panky?"

"What? Of course not! Don't be stupid," she said, trying not to blush. At that moment she was aware of Kenny slowly walking around to film their conversation. God. Why didn't he shoot a footage of when she was preparing the boiled water? He just _had_ to film her while she was trying to keep her face calm and not to babble. "Why would we do that?"

Laurie closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, while rolling her head from side to side. Then her eyes snapped open and she said in a menacing tone, "Don't think I won't fight you for him."

Kenny's camera whipped around.

Hermione retreated a few steps, a little intimidated by the other woman's intense glare. "What are you talking about?"

"I love him. I've never loved anyone so much in my life." _OK, so here you are going on about Draco being the love of your life when just a minute ago you were going on about some ex-boyfriend of yours. What the hell?_ "I won't let you take him from me. Don't you realize? He's the love of my life. I can't go on without him." The hatred that Laurie was projecting was immense, and Hermione felt somehow shocked and anguished. Especially since the negative emotions had come out of nowhere.

"Um... OK, Laurie. Calm down. It's alright. I'm not going to take anyone from you."

Laurie started sobbing tragically. "I know you're just a temporary affair. A week or two at most. But in the end, he'll belong to _me_. The one who loves him the most."

"Laurie, it's OK. Take a deep breath and relax. You're all right." She glanced at Kenny and mouthed, _Get Draco!_ and turned back to Laurie, who had stopped sniffling and stood, brushing the tears from her face. She smiled at Hermione and the latter felt her pulse go up in alarm.

"Taaa-daa! What did you think of my performance?" Laurie beamed and bowed to the camera. Kenny looked relieved as Hermione, bemused, was made to bow too even though she hardly knew what was going on. "Sorry Hermione, but in order to make it look real I had to get a genuine response."

Hermione sat down on a log, wiping her forehead. "I thought you were..." _For real. Ack. _

"Crazy? Mental?" Laurie provided helpfully, looking happy. "Maybe I could make it a little less dramatic. Hmm. Well, you were great too, Hermione. A great co-star. Come on, admit it! It was kind fun, right? Now let's go find that firewood that Draco asked us to get."

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The first thing Draco noticed when he got back to camp with Alex was the look on Hermione's face. She looked shaken and a little pale, but when he asked how she was she shrugged. "I'm OK," she said, then her eyes darted distractedly to Laurie. The two women exchanged a look and a spark of amusement lit Hermione's eyes. They burst into laughter.

Draco decided not to investigate any further, in case it was something about him. "Alright. Are you guys ready for your next challenge? I think you'll enjoy this one." He motioned for the three to follow him but Laurie hanged behind, flapping her arms in panic.

"Do we need to bring anything? Water? Food? Lip gloss?" she asked. Draco laughed and started walking ahead, so she had no choice but to follow. After a short walk around the beach they arrived at a clearing where Julia and her crew had been working hard on sometime before.

There was a huge circular pit in the middle, measuring about 100 feet across. It was fairly deep, about 10 feet, and in the very centre of the hole was a large white box. Hermione began to see what the challenge would be about... but it seemed somehow odd.

"The mystery prize is in the box," announced Draco, looking at his watch. "First one to get to it wins the challenge point, _and_ the contents. You have one hour. Start now." He walked over underneath a tree and watched them, smirking. This was going to be interesting.

The contestants stood on the edge of the pit, staring down at the bottom. It was far too deep to jump unless they didn't mind breaking a limb, and the sides were too smooth to climb down. Hermione frowned, and stared at the box. Laurie walked the side of the circular hole, looking confused and casting bemused looks at Draco.

Alex was the first to act, and he started looking around for sticks. Laurie looked over at Draco. "It's not possible. The hole's way too big." Draco just shook his head, smiling faintly. It wasn't impossible, but with the time limit he'd given them there was only one sensible, injury-free solution. It would be fun seeing who figured it out first.

Hermione continued looking at the box, her brows furrowed, and glancing up with a thoughtful expression every now and then. When Laurie let out a yelp she looked over and saw the other woman pulling out the fishing line from yesterday from her pocket. "I forgot about this! We can use it, right?" Draco shrugged, and watched as Laurie lay on the edge of the pit, throwing the line as far as she could and trying to hook the box. He saw Hermione shake her head slightly and stare down at the sides of the pit again.

Alex came back with a bundle of long sticks. "OK, now we just need to join them together," he said maniacally. Draco smiled. Alex was thinking very linearly while Laurie had stopped thinking altogether. She was still trying to get at the box with the fishing line doggedly with her tongue poking out of the corner of her mouth, letting out grunts and squeaks of irritation whenever she missed - which also happened to be everytime.

Another 5 minutes ticked by.

Draco watched Hermione through half-shut eyes. He wondered what she was thinking. Obviously she hadn't given up - he didn't know her _that_ well but well enough from the past to know that she didn't just give up that easily. He remembered her attempt at fighting off the seagulls and cracked a smile. Then he thought back to his behavior at the lagoon and grimaced.

Any other time he'd have just told the person that it was a log, but he'd made a big show out of it with her. He realized that he'd be showing off to her for no apparent reason at all. It wasn't something he did often and it took him a while to identify his actions because he hadn't shown off to people for long time, after he left the wizarding world.

As a kid and a teen he'd done a lot of it. _Dad/Mom/Pansy/Blaise watch me! Watch me hex/jinx/curse/stupify/etc something! _But he was no longer a teenager it was a little weird finding himself showing off at his age. It was the only way to describe his behavior. He'd shown off and fooled around to make her laugh. He looked at Hermione and saw her nod to herself, and then gaze over at him. "Give up?" he teased, and she smiled.

"It's impossible," she said, and Laurie glanced at her then looked over to him in outrage.

He waited.

"For one person." Hermione glanced at Alex, who was still trying to find some sticks that were long enough to reach the bottom of the pit. "You'd never make the ladder in the time we have left. The only way is to work together."

"Is that right, Draco?" Laurie asked. Draco made a zipping motion across his lips and she looked exasperated.

Alex had stopped running around and looked at them, puffing with effort. He'd done the most physical work so far, although it was still fruitless. "What do you mean?"

"It's the only solution," she argued. "Even if you worked very fast you still couldn't build a ladder in time. We have to work as a team and get the prize. One of us will go down and take the prize, throw it up, and stand on the box while the others pull them up. And since we can't all get a point, we'd have to forfeit the challenge point."

"What if the prize can't be thrown? What if the box can't be moved?" Laurie asked.

Alex piped up. "What if the prize can't be shared?"

Hermione shrugged. "Unknown variables. But we'll have to live with them if we want to win the challenge at all."

"Thirty-five minutes left," Draco said loudly, and continued watching their discussion. Alex looked at him frantically and looked as though he was trying to decide between his ladder and Hermione's idea. Hermione, however, looked calm and composed. Draco knew she was confident that her idea was the only answer to the challenge and she had thought through all the other possibilities. Working together was the only solution in her mind and she knew she was right. Admirable. He smiled, then mentally punched himself and reminded himself that he wasn't meant to have favorites.

Laurie sighed and patted Alex on the back. "Come on, let's do as Hermione says. You know she's right. It's the only way."

"Alright. We'll forfeit the point and if the prize can't be split we'll draw straws."

Hermione beamed at him. "Sure. I agree. OK, Laurie we'll lower you down since you're the lightest."

She looked down at the pit and sighed again in resignation. "Fine, but if it's food I'm staying down there and eating it all myself."

"If you do that we won't help you back up," Alex said menacingly, glaring at her.

"Joking... joking!" Laurie laughed and they lowered her down as far as they could. She jumped the rest of the way and ran over to the box excitedly. "Ooooh, guys, it's shower stuff! Shampoo, shower gel... this is awesome! There's even toothpaste!" Hermione and Alex high-fived each other. Laurie pushed the box to the edge and delivered the items up. 10 minutes later, with 5 minutes to the time limit they rescued Laurie and the women hugged each other while Alex gazed at the treasure trove in wonder, looking at the shampoo and shaving cream in his hands as if they were made of gold.

Draco headed over to them as they laughed and cooed over their well-earned prize. "Well done, you three. You did great. Hermione, because you thought of the idea you get the challenge point."

She looked up, upset. "No, we said we'd forfeit it. It wouldn't be fair otherwise."

"Sorry, you don't get to do that," he replied apologetically, grinning widely. "You can share the prize but the point is yours."

Hermione turned to the others, a sheepish look on her face. "Sorry guys."

"Wait a minute," Alex said suspiciously. "First you knew where to find Draco this morning, and now you knew what to do for this challenge. Are you sure you haven't been getting any hints?"

**---xcxsurvivorxcx---**

Omg... the scrollbar is tiny... I didn't know I could ever write a chapter this long! x.X Anyway I hope you enjoyed this, because it was really fun typing and watching the scrollbar get smaller and smaller! XD Please review, and I'll update a little sooner next time. And also tell me any spelling or grammatical errors, the chapter was so long I couldn't be bothered rereading it...


	5. The Kiss

**S U R V I V O R**

Based on the book 'I Will Survive' by Samantha Connolly.

**A/N: **Hehe, sorry for the _very_ late update! I didn't really get around to writing this, since I had to take the book out of the library, and that often takes weeks, or even months. X.x Anyway, enjoy this chapter! Took me long enough to write it. XD Again, tell me if there's any mistakes... you guys are my betas! Hehehe. -Evil laugh-

**---xcxsurvivorxcx---**

**Chapter Five**

**---xcxsurvivorxcx---**

It was time for another one of those pep talk sessions with Julia. The aforementioned woman cleared her throat and flipped through the papers on her clipboard, beaming at the contestants and host as she did so. "Well, I must say - the amount of response from the public has been overwhelming. I didn't expect the audience figures to climb so high in such a short period of time, but there you go." She flashed them another blinding smile. "And of course there's our regular fan base, who have been visiting our site everyday and giving us a lot of interesting comments."

Hermione felt the uneasy jolt that ran through her body that she always experienced whenever someone reminded her that they were on TV and were being watched by other people. She wished that Julia would stop talking about it, but as usual the woman did exactly opposite of what Hermione hoped and continued ranting on about the audience figures. Hundreds, thousands of people watching their every move, seeing everything - good _and_ bad - that happened to them. It was enough to make anyone's head spin.

_Do the viewers still think I'm cheating? _Hermione thought. Although Draco had immediately leapt to her defence last night and embarrassed Alex into taking back his accusation, she was pretty sure that the event had only fueled the audience's suspicion. Him standing up for her so quickly was almost evidence that she was being favored to win. Yet there was a small, calculating part of her that wondered if some people enjoyed and admired such ruthless tactics. And no doubt Julia would find a way to make everything more exaggerated than it was.

She tuned back in to what Julia was saying.

"... and there's been some pretty unexpected responses to our polls on the website."

"Polls?" Laurie asked. "What do you mean?"

Julia waved a hand. "Oh, we just tell them to log on to the website and put down their votes for things that's going to happen, such as who's going to win the next challenge point, who'll be the earliest one up each morning, who'll lose their temper first. That sort of thing."

The three contestants looked at each other and made faces, chuckling self-consciously.

Unaware of their discomfort, the producer continued. "Also, how long will it be before Laurie and Hermione have a catfight? Who's got the biggest skeleton in the closet and what is it? Who'll sustain a serious injury? Who'll break down first? Which woman will get Draco? Will Alex cheat on his girlfriend and with who? The list goes on and on. It's actually quite fun seeing the results, you know."

Everyone's eyes started to bug out.

Draco folded his arms. "Before the accusations start, I'd better tell you that none of this is my fault."

Julia shot a venomous look at him. "Come on, it's just a bit of fun."

"I'm not going to cheat on my girlfriend," Alex announced, frowning. Hermione glanced at Laurie and tried not to laugh out loud as they shared a look that said, _Not with either of us, that's for sure._

"And most of our poll results say the same thing," Julia said smiling, checking her notes. "In fact, 90 per cent."

"I'm not," he repeated, starting to look a bit panicky.

Julia wagged a finger. "Don't put any money on it. These polls change by the hour. We could have a complete change in votes by the same time tomorrow."

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"So... anything interesting going on?"

Hermione blinked at Julia. She had already taken Alex aside for a little chat and now it was her turn. "Interesting?"

Julia smiled encouragingly. "With the others. How are you getting along?"

"Oh. Um, we're getting along fine I guess. They're all really nice."

"And what about Draco? I heard you two already know each other from way back." Julia winked and put on a pair of sunglasses, waving away a few insects. "How are you two getting along?"

Hermione shrugged. "Yeah, I knew him before. Not very well though. But he's great, he knows a lot about this whole survival thing and he's fun to be around." She watched as the other woman nodded slowly, her eyes unreadable behind the dark glasses she wore.

"Right... OK." Julia swept her arms over her head. "Being on an island like this... it must bring up some feelings that are normally buried deep inside. Primal feelings, should I say." Hermione didn't really know how to respond to that, but she could feel a slight blush creeping up her neck. "Urges." Julia looked meaningfully at her, putting a big emphasis on the word. Noticing her blush, she continued. "Yes, I'm sure there are a lot of primal emotions welling up. And nobody can blame you. A man, a woman in the middle of the tropics on a small deserted island? Well, I'm saying don't be afraid of these feelings. They're only natural, you know. In fact, feel free to... _act_ upon these feelings, if you feel you must."

Hermione was frozen with embarrassment. _What kind of things did she tell Alex, then?_ she thought, shocked. "We haven't really had time to think about that," she said quickly. "I mean, the challenges do take up a lot of time and energy. At least we're not at each other's throats yet, right?" She smiled nervously.

There was a pause. "Hmmm, that _is_ another way things could go," Julia said specutively, jotting down a few things on her clipboard. "But we'll leave that aspect for now." She leaned a little closer to Hermione. "Anything else you want to ask me?" she said, her tone suggesting that the answer she was expecting would contain only two letters. Hermione shook her head, glad to be free of her hawk gaze. "Great. Send Laurie over, will you?"

She obliged gladly, and a few minutes later when she look over again, the two were giggling madly like two girls at a sleepover. Draco passed her and saw her looking at them. "Something wrong?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No," Hermione answered, smiling wanly.

"Oh. So what did she drag you over for? Some kind of lecture?"

She laughed, looking away. "No, nothing like that."

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

Draco, Draco, Draco.

Hermione swiped away a flax leaf that swung into her face and tried to detour her thoughts from the one thing they always came back to. It was unnatural for her to feel this way towards him. _Especially_ because it was him. She sighed and picked her way through the thicket. She spotted a grey and white feather on the ground and bend down to grab it eagerly. _This must be the tern feather, _she thought, glad of something else to think about.

Draco had sent them off on a scavenger hunt about an hour ago. The list consisted of 15 items and the first back to camp with 10 of those would win the challenge. To be honest, Hermione wasn't trying very hard - yesterday's accusation still hung over them and she decided she wouldn't mind if someone else won the challenge point today. Instead she was just wandering around, picking up things when she saw them but generally exploring the island. Right now she was on top of a small cliff that overlooked part of the beach on the opposite side of the island to their shelters.

The exploring was also supposed to be a plan to stop herself thinking about Draco but this was proving to be difficult. She remembered a lot of little things that he did; the way he smirked at her, the way he occasionally brushed his hand through his hair unconsciously, the way he smiled languidly at people. At the moment she was trying to get rid of the image of him and Alex arguing heatedly over something. Sports teams, if she remembered correctly. Alex had been squawking indignantly and Draco had spots of pink high in his cheeks, his eyes bright as he spoke.

Hermione blinked when she realized she was grinning foolishly on camera. Shaking her head, she mentally scolded herself. Julia would just love that.

Sighing, she found a low, thick tree and climbed up onto it. The shade was welcome to her hot skin and she took a drink from her bottle. Birds cheeped above her head in the thick leaves and the wind blew over her, cooling her down. She shut her eyes and smiled, making a mental note to thank Draco later for sending them out on the scavenger hunt.

Draco.

Urgh. Her train of thought was back exactly where it started. It urked her but she grudgingly admitted that she did indeed have a crush on him. The more she tried to deny it, the worse it got. She felt good around him and agonizingly for her, she was attracted to him. It was weird, considering their history but she couldn't help it. Her sessions of trying to talk herself into believing that she didn't really like him at all always failed whenever he looked at her with those piercing eyes of his. All those hours of silently chanting '_I do not like Draco Malfoy_' in her head and occasionally under her breath, gone to waste in a second.

And she wasn't sure, but sometimes she could swear that the feeling was mutual. But that was the problem with attraction - it turned your judgement to poop. Hermione'd had first-hand experience when it came to pooped judgement - just look at how she'd misread Krum for instance. She had _no_ idea what he'd been thinking.

The memory made her restless and agitated, so she got up and walked further alone the cliff towards some tall papaya trees a little bit ahead of her.

_Even if Draco _did_ somehow like you, what would you do? Track him down after the show? Seduce him on national television? _She chuckled at the absurdness of her own suggestions and then pressed her hand over her mouth. Smiling on camera was one thing, but chuckling to herself on TV was just too plain weird.

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

Hermione narrowed her eyes and looked up at the trees. Yellow, cylindrical fruits filled her vision. Bananas weren't on the list but she thought it'd be a nice change from the same food they ate everyday. Putting her palm against the trunk, she shook it as hard as she could. They didn't even move. She tried to find a large stick to beat them down but there were none that were even close to the height of the position of the fruit.

There was only one solution.

_But the tree is awfully... big_, she thought to herself.

_The rewards will be worth the climb,_ the confident and reckless part of her answered boldly.

Her mind now devoid of any thought of the scavenger hunt, she glanced around and her eyes landed on a couple of strong-looking vines nearby. Cutting them off with her pocket knife, she tied them together to form a harness that she'd seen Draco use on the show before. She looped it aroung the tree and tugged, making sure it was secure.

Now for the tricky part.

Hermione held the vine and braced her feet against the trunk, adjusting her legs so that the vine would remain taut enough to keep her up. She took a step up the trunk and bent her knee, and as soon as the loop loosened she pulled it sharply further up the tree. She repeated the procedure several times, feeling amazed and proud that it was actually working and she wasn't falling. About 15 minutes later, she finally reached the top of the banana tree. Grinning like a maniac she scanned the surrounding area, feeling relieved that she'd made it. Hermione reached over and tugged off a ripe banana, peeling it and then savoring it with a pleasure that bordered on indecent. She was going to stuff a few more into her pockets, but remembered that her dress _had_ no pockets. Sighing, she instead pulled off the fruit in bunches and dropped them into the long grass, hoping it would cushion their fall and that the bananas wouldn't be too bruised. Well, even _if_ they were bruised they would probably eat them anyway.

After a few more moments of enjoying her perch, the sun became a little too strong for her and she decided to get down before her skin began to peel. While she tried to formulate a plan to get back down, a rustle in the bushes made her turn sharply. "Draco?" she called sceptically, wondering if she'd been out longer than she was supposed to be. But she didn't remember him saying anything about a time limit...

Another rustle, this one slightly more violent than the previous one. "Um... whoever it is, come out," she said loudly. This time the bushes parted and Hermione gasped as a huge wild pig with bristly fur and tusks emerged. A group of cute little pink piglets followed, and she resisted the urge to jump down and hug one. _They're so cute, _she thought, amused. _Hard to imagine they'd grow as big and lumbering as their mother. _

The smile on her face dropped when the mother started nosing through the grass and the bananas. She started to frown. "Hey - hey there, shoo! Away! Those are mine! Do you know how hard I worked to get to them?" The pigs paid her no attention and started devouring them. "_HEY!_" she yelled, and climbed cautiously down a few notches. "Get away from them! Shoo!"

This time the mother pig turned its beady eyes towards her and growled. _Oh my, what big tusks you have, _she thought. She ventured down a big further and was met with a louder growl. Meanwhile the babies - who were starting to not look so cute - continued eating through the bunches of bananas, occasionally rearing their heads as if laughing at her. "Fine, have the bananas, be my guest," she muttered and climbed back into her roost. She covered herself with a leaf, and watched helplessly as the yellow fruits disappeared into their mouths at an alarming rate.

A few minutes later they were all gone. Hermione looked down, hoping that they would go away and let her get back down, but no such luck. The family of wild pigs settled down in the grass and started to go to sleep. She slid down as quietly as she could, but whenever she tried the mother pig always snarled at her. Stuck again. Hermione began to seriously regret ever coming to this tree in the first place.

Hours seemed to pass and the pigs still didn't budge. By now Hermione had finished the remaining banana that she had missed when she was throwing them down and was feeling bone-tired, bored and plain stupid. Her stomach, despite the fruit, was growling and she was starting to grow desperate. Would she be here all night? "Hello?" she called, wondering where the Island Eyes were when she needed them. Couldn't anybody see her? Where was the cameraman that was supposed to be tracking her? "Anyone?"

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

"I _had_ a feather!" Alex exclaimed, looking suspiciously at Laurie. "Did you take my feather?"

Laurie wrapped her arms around her own stash. "Don't ask me for your stupid feather. Go away."

"Feather or not, I'm coming," Draco called out, smirking. He checked both their bags and found that Alex was indeed missing a feather, bringing his total to 9 items. "... 8, 9, 10. Congratulations Laurie, you win this challenge." He hid his amazement that she had found _any_ of the list items at all, never mind all of them.

"OH MY GOD! Really? You're not kidding me?" she screeched, her face flushed. When Draco shook his head, smiling, she ran over and jumped onto him, hugging him tightly and wrapping her legs around his waist.

He tried to fend her off but she wouldn't budge, so he was forced to walk over to Alex with a babbling Laurie still clinging to him. "Um, why don't you two shake hands to show there's no hard feelings?" he suggested, and was relieved when Laurie agreed, pumped Alex's unwilling hand and then rushed off to the confession cam. Draco turned back to Alex. "Did you happen to see Hermione on your way?" he asked. She was the only one not back and he was starting to get a little worried.

Alex shook his head, still sulking about losing the challenge.

"Well, we'll give her an hour or so. Meanwhile, why don't we make a raft? It's not a challenge but it still has to be done." The black-haired man brightened visibly and ran off eagerly when he was asked to collect sticks. "We'll do this as a piece-to-camera," he said to Kenny, who nodded and started adjusting his camera as Draco tore strips off a vine to make rope.

"I like her," Kenny said conversationally.

"Who, Laurie?" Draco answered.

Kenny laughed. "God, no. She's mad. I mean Hermione."

Draco brushed sand off his arm and nodded absently. "Yeah, I guess she's nice."

"She's brave," Kenny said. "And no matter what happens, she always has her sense of humor about her. You notice that, Draco?"

"Yeah, guess so," he said. "Hey, maybe you should get some tape of me plaiting the rope after all."

But for once the other man seemed to be in a talkative mood. "You guys work well together too."

Draco looked at him, frowned slightly and shrugged. "Maybe. I haven't really noticed."

Kenny nodded wisely. "Yeah, you two look good together, you know? Comfortable."

Suddenly Draco's expression cleared. "Ooooh, I get what's going on. How much is she paying you?"

"Hermione?" Kenny frowned.

"No, Julia. How much is she paying you to stir things up?" Draco abandoned his rope-making and looked at Kenny, who stared blankly back. "Come on, 'fess up."

"No one's paying me," he replied, puzzled. "I'm just saying."

Draco peered suspiciously at him but there was no sign of guile on the cameraman's face. "Oh, alright. Sorry about that." He turned back to the rope but Kenny's next words grabbed his attention again.

"I'm not sure Julia's even noticed it."

"Noticed what?"

Kenny grinned as he wiped the lens. "That you like her."

"What are you talking about?"

"Come on, it's so obvious," Kenny tilted his head at him, winking. "OK, well not to Julia or anybody but I've been following you around for years. You're not acting strange or out of the ordinary," he said quickly, noticing the look on Draco's face. "But I've been filming you for... what, two years? And I'm seeing a side of you I've never seen. I gotta say, you're _flirting_, man."

Draco froze, his face paling. Was he _that_ transparent? But he was saved from a reply when he heard a faint sound from the forest. "Wait, Kenny. Did you hear that?"

Kenny stopped to listen but shook his head apologetically. "All I can hear is you asking me whether I heard anything," he said as he set up the camera. "You ready?"

"No, wait," Draco said, holding up a hand. "That was an SOS. I know it. Come on, follow me the best you can." Kenny nodded and took the camera off the tripod. On their way to the forest, they met Alex, who was coming back with an armful of branches. "Stay here," Draco instructed and walked on, stopping occasionally to try and figure out where the SOS was coming from. _At least she's alive and well enough to send out a SOS,_ he thought as he ran along. He was just trying to break through some particularly nasty bushes when he heard her calling out. "Hermione! Stay there, I'm coming to get you!" he yelled.

Her voice sounded very relieved. "Oh my God, thank goodness you're here, I'm stranded in a tree with wild-"

Draco broke out and unsheathed his pocket knife from force of habit. He stared in disbelief at the scene before him. "... pigs below you? And they're asleep, too."

Hermione looked at him. "Well, the minute I try to get down they wake up. Like I'm some kind of alarm clock." When Draco laughed, she waved a fist at him. "I'm not kidding! Help me down, _please. _As comfortable as this tree is, I've had enough."

"Well, at least you got us some dinner," he said cheerfully. "We'll just take the big one, the small pigs should be OK - they look weaned."

She stopped. "No, Draco! Don't!" she cried, trying to reach down. "Please don't kill them. There's bound to be more pigs that need their mother. Please."

He sighed and at that moment, the mother woke up. If pigs could show emotions, this one looked surprised. It squealed loudly and woke the piglets, and ushered them away into the foliage. "Looks like you got your wish."

"Thank you for not chasing after them," she said grudgingly after he'd helped her down. Her legs were trembling and she could hardly walk. "Ack. This is hard," she laughed, holding on to him for support. "Looks like I was more scared than I realized."

Draco enveloped her in a hug. "There, there. It's over now."

She was pleasantly shocked but that didn't stop her from instinctively burying her face in his chest. "Thanks a lot. I needed that. Looks like I'm not as tough as I thought I was."

"Anyone would be scared out of their wits if they were stranded in a banana tree with wild pigs underneath," he said, smirking. "I'm just surprised the pigs didn't run away when they saw you." Hermione raised her arm and was about to punch his face, and as she looked up their eyes met. She swallowed as he held her gaze with those icy eyes of his, and was just about to look away when he leaned down and kissed her.

Draco felt fireworks going off in his head. _Whoa,_ he thought as he instinctively started to deepen the kiss. _This feels awesome. _He wanted it to go on and on, even though he knew he shouldn't really be doing this. Circling his hands around her waist, he felt her kiss him back and brush her fingers through his hair.

"Draco?" came a cry from the bushes, making them both leap apart as though electrified. "Where are you? I don't know where I am. Help!"

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All through their journey back, Draco hardly said a word, just a comment here or there about his rescue. Hermione, who was recounting her experience to Kenny's camera, thought of nothing but that kiss even as her mouth formed words like 'tusk!' 'incredible height!' 'fear!' automatically. She wasn't sure what it meant but it definitely had an effect on her. Her heart thudded even more erratically than before when she looked at Draco, but she didn't see enough of his face to see what his expression was as he was leading them back to camp and walking a few metres ahead.

She decided he was being wise and didn't talk to him about it.

Back at camp, Laurie and Alex were disappointed to find that she hadn't brought anything back from her adventure. "No bananas at all?" Laurie had asked sadly, and Hermione shook her head, amused. Well, at least this put her back on par with the other contestants. Now she had something to fall back on if anyone ever made accusations again. "So did you get anything from the list?" Laurie asked her later.

"Ummm... a tern feather, a copperleaf branch and a seashell." She emptied the contents of her bag onto her palm.

"So I'm still the winner?" the blond woman asked carefully. Draco smiled and nodded, and she shouted in triumph and gave him a huge hug.

Hermione looked away, smiling and feeling a little sorry for Laurie and her blatant but futile flirting. Until Alex spoke.

"Here we go again," he muttered.

Hermione glanced at him sharply, and then looked at the two. Draco was laughing and had his hands on Laurie's waist, and they looked pretty damn good. Her stomach rolled and she felt irked. What had Alex meant?

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Draco rolled over on his bedding yet again - the umpteenth time in less than an hour. He stared at the ceiling, thinking about the day's events.

Kissing Hermione had been a huge mistake.

OK, he was attracted to her, that was for sure. But it was completely unexpected, even for him. She was in his arms and he just... well, _did_ it. And for such a bad idea it was a great kiss. Warm and passionate. It made his heart speed up just thinking about it. But he didn't want to start anything, especially not on the show. He didn't want an affair with one of the female competitors - it might bring in more women who weren't interested in the show itself, but in him. Which wasn't what he wanted at all.

And she had been oddly quiet about it the whole time afterwards. Hermione _had_ always been known for her brains; what if she'd accepted the kiss just to boost her own ratings? As something to show off to the audience, so that they'd support her? He didn't even know if she'd told everyone else yet, but he hoped she wasn't like that. From what he remembered of her, scheming and cunning wasn't how you'd describe Hermione Granger.

He sighed and closed his eyes. So many complications from just a little kiss.

It really should have never happened.

**---xcxsurvivorxcx---**

And so the competition for the million dollars and Draco goes on... teeheehee! Review if you want faster updates! (I think I've used that line before...)


	6. The Confrontation

**S U R V I V O R**

Based on the book 'I Will Survive' by Samantha Connolly.

**A/N: **Just to warn you, the above book moves at a very fast pace, so I'm going to have to follow that. So, sorry if the super-fast storyline and romance bothers you - this fic won't be nearly as long as 10WtKDM. Speaking of the aforementioned fic, the next chapter is in-progress, so don't worry - I definitely won't stop writing it until it's finished. It's just that school is spitting out a truckload of homework at me, and among other online involvements, fanfiction got left behind for a little while. 

Oh, and the colors of their keys/boxes actually have some kind of significance. :P Try to guess what the colors represent!

**---xcxsurvivorxcx---**

**Chapter Six**

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Soon after Hermione got up and had breakfast, she realized that something was wrong. Not once this morning had she been alone with Draco at all. In fact, if she looked back it hadn't been since their kiss that they had been together by themselves. 

When they had come back from the rescue with Kenny, Draco started making the raft, explaining everything to the camera as he did so. Hermione, along with Laurie and Alex, helped him occasionally in between the confession cam and their daily chores - gathering firewood, purifying water so it was fit to drink, and replacing their flattened 'bedding' with more moss and whatever else they put in it. Each person had their own preferences and often hunted by themselves for specific types of bedding, so it usually took up a lot of time. 

As the evening wore on, Draco continued to act like nothing had happened. As the thrill of the kiss wore off, Hermione became more and more confused, especially seeing the flirty behavior he was acting on towards Laurie. 

Hermione didn't sleep very well that night, and was glad when she opened her eyes and saw sunlight peeking through the holes in the wall. When she emerged from her shelter things hadn't improved by much. Sure, Draco was now making pleasant conversation with her but her attempts to meet his eyes were foiled as he kept looking elsewhere, seemingly avoiding her gaze by accident. 

After breakfast, he led them to a beach where, apparently, their next challenge was. When they saw the spectacle that was the beach, they gasped collectively. Julia's crew had obviously been busy. In front of them was a giant obstacle course, complete with climbing walls, mud pits, rope bridges, mazes - the whole lot. The course stretched to almost a mile and looked like some kind of army training course. Hermione gulped. She had never been on the athletic side. During school it was easy to pass by PE lessons, because it was usually Quidditch and she was not too bad at that. But a real assault course...

Draco grinned at their shocked expressions and handed each of them a key tied with a ribbon; Alex's was red, Laurie's green and Hermione's blue. They stared at them, bemused. "There are 21 colored boxes in this course," he told them. "Meaning 7 for each person. They'll be number from one to seven and the colors on them tell you whose box it is. The keys in your hands open the first box of the set. The key to the second box will be inside, and so forth. The boxes are scattered and not in an orderly fashion. Mostly likely you'll encounter a box that you haven't got the keys to. In that case, I recommend remembering the location of that box and coming back for it later." He gave them all a smile, somehow managing not to meet Hermione's eyes. "Of course, you'll also find boxes that don't belong to you. You should probably keep quiet about those - but of course, you could always inform the others if you really wanted to."

The three contestants chuckled wryly. Draco smirked and continued. "Some of the boxes will have provisions inside, because - trust me - you'll be here all day." He checked his watch. "There's no time limit; but I think you should all be done by the time the sun goes down. Ready?" He looked around at the eager faces. "Alright, good luck, all of you. You may start."

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An hour later, Hermione was on her third box. Thankfully the many obstacles provided shade from the blistering hot sun, which was now high in the sky. She wished it was cloudy; but whoever heard of a cloudy tropical island? She took another gulp of the bottle of water she'd found, and looked around warily. She had learned to keep an eye on the other two; she wasn't very agile, but she was cunning. When she found a box that wasn't hers, she either ignored it or pretended to open it. The first time Laurie found a box that wasn't hers she'd squealed in frustration, which in turn attracted Alex and Hermione to go have a look. It turned out to be one of hers, but unfortunately she didn't have the key. 

And the boxes themselves were making things hell for her; they were small, hard to spot and more than once she'd used a lot of effort to cross an obstacle just to find that the box was red or green. However, she would have been enjoying the challenge if only she wasn't being plagued by a thought that constantly pushed into her mind and broke her concentration: why the hell did Draco kiss her if he was going to pretend he didn't? 

She finished the water and tried to remember where she had seen box number four. Was it atop the climbing wall or in the maze? She looked around. The maze was closer. However, to get there she'd have to pass by Laurie and Draco, who seemed to be having a great time chatting. As she approached them, Hermione considered weaving away and ignoring them; but that would seem strange. She gritted her teeth and walked towards the two.

"Come on, let's just cut to the chase," Laurie said cajolingly to Draco, who folded his arms with an amused look on his face. "I'll pay you five thousand. What about it?"

"What if you pay me and you don't win?" he responded, grinning. 

Laurie put her hands on her hips. "I'm going to win," she declared confidently. "As soon as you tell me where the next box is. I'll even offer 10 thousand."

"Just one?" Draco put on a thoughtful look, as if he was really thinking hard about it. 

Hermione fought the urge to sprint past, and stopped at an equal distance to either of them. "What's this? You're trying to _bribe_ him?" she asked incredulously. 

The blonde grinned. "Yeah, I'm a little claustrophobic." She pointed at the maze. "If I pay you five thousand, will you go and see if one of my boxes is there?"

Hermione laughed and turned to Draco, smiling. "She offered you double that. I think I should hold out."

Draco, who had been acting so cheerful towards Laurie, looked at somewhere past her head and chuckled politely. Piqued, Hermione tried to hide the hurt expression on her face before Laurie noticed. "Uh, are you having any trouble? I can't tell you the location of the boxes, but I can give you tips-"

"No, I'm fine," she interjected angrily. "I don't need _tips_. Thanks. Thanks a lot." And then she stormed off towards the maze before he could say another word. 

_Who does he think he is? _she thought as she followed the maze subconsciously. _Does he think that one kiss from him would be so powerful that I'd fall desperately in love with him straight away and start stalking him or something? Is that why he's acting so indifferent?_

Talk about an inflated ego. She couldn't believe it. Did he think she was another fangirl who signed up to the show just to be in his presence? How big-headed was that? 

Now she was more determined than ever to win this challenge, and the whole contest. After she got the million dollars, she'd... she'd buy this show and fire him!

OK, that was a little insane. She wouldn't do that, but she would win the challenge. 

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

Hermione sat herself down in front of the confession cam and brushed a lock of - gasp - _clean _hair out of her face. Getting shampoo had really made a huge difference to her state of personal hygiene.

"Hey everyone," she said, smiling into the camera. Now that she had done this a dozen times, it no longer felt so awkward and embarrassing. "Phew... I have to say, today was awesome! I have to hand it to Julia; she really knows how to build an obstacle course. It's only been five days, but running around all the time has definitely improved my stamina. If this had been the first challenge, I probably would have fainted from exhaustion!" She paused, and then let out a smile. "Look, it was harder than it seemed, OK? And he only beat me by seconds!" 

Laughing as she imagined her friends rolling their eyes as they watched, she shifted around and grinned. "Alright, alright. I admit it - Alex beat me fair and square. Hmm, what's the score now? I'm not sure, but I think Alex and I are two, and Laurie is one. Oh wait, I bet it's up on the website anyway."

She stretched and yawned dramatically. "Boy, I'm definitely going to sleep tonight. I must say, sleeping in general has gotten a lot more comfortable and easy. I'm kinda used to the noises of the island now; actually, it's almost soothing sometimes." She looked down and bit her lip. OK, she didn't sleep very well last night, but she wasn't about to tell that to everyone. She wished her best girl friends were here. It would be a lot easier discussing the whole Draco situation with them instead of turning it over and over in her own head, which was starting to tire of the aforementioned topic. 

Hermione turned back to the camera, beaming in what she hoped was a natural way. Now that she was experiencing it herself, she was starting to really understand what the phrase 'putting on a brave face' meant. "Well, whatever the challenge is tomorrow, I'm definitely going to win it! I'm really determined now," she said, grinning and folding her arms. "Oh, I'd better go to dinner now," she said and clapped her hands together in mock excitement. "Gosh, I wonder what's going to be on the menu tonight? Potatoes? Papaya? Ooooh, I hope it's fish!"

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

"Oh my God, my legs are killing me! I went up that stupid pyramid three times!" Laurie complained. 

Hermione frowned. "It was a blue box up there, one of mine."

"I know! But I got it confused with that spiderweb thing!" the blonde woman screeched, rubbing her calves. "You know, that one with a pole in the middle?"

Nodding in understanding, Hermione patted her on the shoulder. The discussion about the day's events was proving to be quite interesting, as each of them recalled their best, worst and most tiring moments. Kenny had returned to the boat a couple of hours after dinner, but the talk around the fire was still dominated by obstacle course bravados.

As Alex and Laurie talked, Hermione watched their faces in the flickering light of the fire. Although it had only been five days, Alex's had grown leaner and his deepening tan suited him. The scratches on Laurie's arms and legs and smudges of dirt on her face made her seem more human. 

She didn't look at Draco. Hermione knew exactly what he looked like. Strikingly handsome, humorous and friendly yet egotistical, self-contained and irritating. 

Alex yawned and stretched. "Man, I think I'll go to sleep now."

"Aw," Draco said, looking a little disappointed.

"What?" Alex looked at him, confused. 

"I was hoping to take you guys out for all-night fishing," Draco explained. "It's low tide and there's a great place out by the cliff. I thought it might be something different."

None of the others met his eyes as he glanced around hopefully, obviously not too thrilled at the idea. "Er... is it a challenge?" Laurie said finally.

"Uh, no," Draco replied. "I just thought it might be interesting for you."

She looked immensely relieved. "Well, in that case, I hope you won't mind if I give it a miss."

"Me too," Alex chirped, standing up quickly as if afraid that Draco was going to drag him away, kicking and screaming, to go fishing. "Winning the obstacle course really wore me out." As if to prove it, he yawned loudly whilst putting on a modest face. Hermione and Laurie threw bits of papaya skin at him, and he put his hands up in surrender. "OK, OK already! I hope I didn't sound too cocky about it when I talked about it to the confession cam," he said, looking worried. 

Laurie slapped a hand on her forehead. "Oh, the confession cam! I totally forgot about it! Do you think Julia'll mind if I miss it once?" Looking around at the skeptical faces around her, she sighed. "I thought as much. Oh well... I'll go do it quickly now and go straight to bed. See you tomorrow morning, guys!" 

Watching satisfyingly as the two left, Hermione turned back towards Draco, an expectant look on her face. "Maybe we should wait for another night," he said, averting his eyes. "When everyone else can come."

"Oh no," Hermione said firmly, standing up and brushing sand off herself. "We're doing this tonight."

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

"... and the two brightest stars in the constellation Gemini called Castor and Pollux, who were twin deities that helped shipwrecked sailors."

Hermione glared at the side of his face. "Oh really? How fascinating," she said, not bothering to hide the apparent sarcasm. 

They were standing thigh-deep in warm sea water, holding fishing rods out in front of them, and Draco seemed determined to tell her the tale of every single constellation in the inky-black sky. Hermione wasn't sure if they were on camera or not, but they had left their microphones at the shore in case they dropped into the water so she knew they couldn't be heard. _Oh, poor audience, missing out on this riveting monologue,_ she thought wryly.

When she looked at him, Draco was still staring up at the skies. She pointed at a random spot in the sky. "Look, that constellation is called 'The Castaways'. Do you know the story?" she started brightly. Draco started to protest, but she cut him off and launched into her tale. "Once upon a time, a maiden and a handsome man were stranded on a deserted island. Days and weeks passed, until one day they found themselves under a banana tree where they kissed."

She could feel Draco standing very still beside her, and she went on.

"Unfortunately, it was a magical banana tree, so while the maiden knew about the kiss, the man had no memory of the incident at all." She gave a meaningful sigh. "The Gods took pity on the maiden and immortalized her into the heavens, all beautiful and twinkly, while the man was left on the island to grow old and wither away like a rotten apple."

There was a long silence.

"I'm sorry," Draco said finally. 

Hermione was relieved that he was finally talking to her about it. Looks like her storytelling had come in useful after all.

"It shouldn't have happened."

She felt something sinking in her stomach, and was surprised at how much that statement hurt. Actually _hurt_.

"I think I acted on impulse," he said, looking at her and then away again. "I think we both did."

"Impulse," she said dully. 

He nodded. "Yeah. We were caught up in the moment; you were frightened and tired, and I was worried for your safety. It was just a very emotional moment. Don't you agree?"

Her eyes stung with tears but she blinked them away quickly. "Of course, you're right. I mean, we would never do something like that."

"Right," Draco said, obviously very relieved. Hermione's gut knotted. "But you're doing really well, and I'm having a great time getting to know another side of you that I've never seen before."

"Uh huh." Hermione's cheeks strained at holding her smile on her face.

There was silence as they continued to fish. Hermione's mind was swirling with nasty remarks that she was itching to say, and also a disappointment that was starting to surprise her. She curled her toes in the gritty sand and tried to ignore the waves lapping at her thighs in a way that was reminding her of the one thing she was desperately trying to keep her mind off. She wondered how long she'd have to stay in order to seem polite before she started making excuses to go.

She had her mouth halfway open to do a fake yawn when her fishing rod jerked in her hands. "Oh!" she gasped. 

Draco glanced at her and then his eyes flicked to the spot where her line sank into the water. "Caught something?"

"I'm not sure," she said, feeling no more movement. However, only moments passed before her line twitched again. "Yes, that was a tug," she exclaimed, feeling a blob of excitement blooming in her chest. She edged forward and grabbed for her line in the darkness, finding it on her third attempt. Slowly, she pulled it up and wound it around the pertruding hooks on her fishing rod. "I'm getting good at this," she joked to Draco, all thoughts of romance temporarily forgotten.

Apparently not so for him. Suddenly, he let go of his fishing rod and dashed towards her to put both arms around her waist. 

"Oh, Draco!" she said, surprised, and put an arm around his neck, the other one still holding the fishing rod in an awkward way. She closed her eyes and tilted her head for the kiss, but instead felt Draco pull her off her feet roughly. The rod was snatched out of her hands and the water beside her erupted in a fit of bubbles. Draco swung her up and lifted her above the water with an arm around her shoulders and another under her legs. Hermione looked around frantically, feeling the bubble of excitement turn into fear. She felt Draco's heart pounding as he searched the water with his eyes, as it went eerily still.

"OK," he said finally. "I think he's gone."

"Who?" Hermione said dreadingly. 

Draco checked the water one last time before looking at her. Droplets of water in his hair were illuminated by the moonlight as he spoke. "A grey reef shark. I guess we disturbed him." She flinched but he squeezed her reassuringly, giving her a smile. "Gave him a free meal, though."

Hermione stared at him, and then the murky water. A shark. Sharks meant big, sharp teeth. If it had bitten her, just once... her legs stung at the thought of it. "Don't put me down," she said, suddenly afraid. 

"Sure," he said, laughing. With careful steps, he waded back towards the beach while Hermione looked around fearfully over his shoulder. Once they got to the shore, he put her down gently. 

She scooted back a few metres on her bottom, feeling paranoid. Funnily enough, her legs were still stinging slightly. She looked at them and realized that the glistening wetness on her calves wasn't water. "I'm bleeding!" she exclaimed, staring at it.

Draco came up beside her and examined her calf. She searched his face for a twitch or a fleeting look of horror; anything that would tell her that she was majorly injured. When he spoke, his voice was remarkably cheerful. "Looks like his tail caught your leg," he explained. "Sharks have skin like sandpaper. A little scrape and this happens. But don't worry, it's nothing too serious."

_What's _his_ definition of 'nothing too serious'? Nothing to worry about? Or more likely, life-threatening? Crippling?_ "Will I have to get it amputated?" she asked shakily, hating how scared she sounded. She was relieved when Draco started laughing. 

"Of course not! You'll live," he said, grinning at her horrified expression. "You sure like getting yourself into trouble." Then his face fell. "But I admit, it was _my _fault for bringing you here. I should have known there would be sharks around. I'm sorry." He looked genuinely apologetic. 

"Don't worry," she said brightly. "In fact, now I can tell everyone I had a near-death experience. How's that for danger and adventure on a tropical island?"

He smiled and turned to meet her eyes. She felt her blood simmer in a rather inappropriate way and was glad for the cloak of darkness hiding the blush on her cheeks. They were so close, she'd only have to lean in a little to close the gap...

Draco made the decision for her, moving forward and putting his hands on her face as he kissed her. This time, the kiss was more searching and she felt his tongue probe at hers as her lips parted. She groaned and put a hand on his chest, pushing him away. She shuffled back the best she could and stood, the stinging pain in her leg forgotten. "Wait, don't tell me," she said, breathing hard. "Another _emotional _moment? Just one kiss and everything's back to normal tomorrow?" When he didn't answer, she shook her head bitterly. "I thought as much. Well, I'm not here to be a toy for you to play with when you feel like it." She turned and stalked off towards the shelters.

"Hermione, wait a moment," she heard him calling from behind her. 

"Leave me alone," she retorted over her shoulder. "You... you _man_!"

**---xcxsurvivorxcx---**

Yay! Finally got this chapter finished. This one isn't that long compared to a few of the previous ones, but in this chapter their relationship really starts to bloom and you get to see a bit more of what Draco's thinking. 

Oh, and please vote for 10WtKDM, if you wish, at Dramione awards, round 3! Go to my profile for details. :) I'd love it if you took the time to vote, even if it's not for my fic! -Hugs-


	7. The Confession

**S U R V I V O R**

Based on the book 'I Will Survive' by Samantha Connolly.

**A/N: **I know that in previous chapters, I'd said that Hermione was engaged to Ron. Well, because of personality issues, I've decided to change her fiance to Viktor Krum instead. So... yeah. Ehehe.

**---xcxsurvivorxcx---**

**Chapter Seven**

**---xcxsurvivorxcx---**

_This is ridiculous,_ Hermione thought, annoyed. _According to Julia, there are about a quarter of a million people watching me right now, but can I get Draco to look at me? Of course not. _She cleared her throat again, attracting worried looks from Alex.

"Are you alright?" he asked with concern, coming over from the campfire where breakfast was being held. "You're not feeling sick, are you?"

Hermione shook her head. "No, I'm fine, thanks. I've just got something in my throat." She looked over at Draco for the umpteenth time, but he was distractedly handing Kenny a bottle of water.

"What's everyone gonna do today?" he asked.

"I'm going to go look for that shark!" Alex said excitedly. "It'd be so cool to see it up close."

Draco smiled. "I don't think you'll see it again," he said kindly.

Alex looked a little sadder. "Yeah... but..." he brightened, "I'm still going to try!"

"God, you're a lunatic," Laurie said, yawning. "Who would go actively looking for sharks?" She stretched like a cat, attempting to cover her mouth as she let out another yawn. "I wish you'd told us we'd have a day off from challenges, Draco," she complained. "I would have slept in."

"I guess that answers what you're going to be doing today," Draco said.

"I think I'll go to the lagoon again," Hermione said, staring hard at Draco and willing him to look at her. Her eyes started to water.

At her words, Laurie suddenly looked interested. "Oooh, I think I'll come visit this famous lagoon of yours," she said.

Hermione thought fast. "That would be fun. I want to take the scenic route and climb over a couple of mountains. Then I'd like to trek across the north beach, though the sun will be directly overhead by then, so we'll have to carry lots of water."

"Never mind," Laurie said, slumping down on the sand. "I'll stick to my original plan, thanks."

"That's a shame," Hermione said, feigning disappointment, and then returned to her objective. "Draco, could you come and check my leg, please? Just in case it's infected or something."

"Alright," he said, and came over. While Alex turned away and Laurie went back into her shelter, she wrote in the sand: _Lagoon, please._ Draco looked at it and then at her, his expression unchanged. She tapped the word _please_, then quickly rubbed the words out as Alex came by and looked at her wound.

"Is it infected?" he asked eagerly. "Do sharks have some kind of poison in their skin? Like, to paralyze their prey? Does it hurt? Can I touch it?"

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

Hermione was pacing by a coconut tree when Draco arrived. She looked up quickly, glad that he hadn't stood her up. "I'm glad you came," she said somewhat shyly.

Draco took off his mic and tossed it beside a bush, where hers lay. "How's the wound?"

"It's hardly a _wound_," she said, grinning. "Just a bit of a graze. It's fine. But that's not what I came here to talk about." She took a deep breath, her heart pounding uncharacteristically. "I was just... well, we've sorta been... kissing. Is there a reason for that, or are you doing it for fun?"

He took a deep breath. "If you're wondering if my playboy habits have come back, then no," he said, with a wry smile. "I... well, I don't want to sound mushy or anything, but I do like you. Which surprises me. A lot."

She scowled at him. "You haven't changed much at all, you know."

"Neither have you," he retorted, almost playfully.

"Let's not get into this," she said with a roll of her eyes. He nodded. "So... what did we do last time we were here at the lagoon?" The lagoon seemed to have become a place where they could put aside their differences, and the show, to have some time to themselves. Hermione hoped fervently that there were no Island Eyes around, or their supposed private time would be more like public private time. Which didn't make that much sense, but that was the way things were here.

"We hunted crocodiles," he provided helpfully, smirking.

Hermione's mouth twitched. From annoyance or amusement, she wasn't quite sure. "Aside from that."

Draco's smirk became wider. "Actually, we swam. Or at least I did. So this time, how about skinny dipping?" He laughed at the expression on Hermione's face. "I was kidding. But of course that doesn't mean I'm not up for it." He grinned and stretched lazily, reminding Hermione uncannily of a cat.

"Was that an invitation?" Hermione decided to play his game, raising an eyebrow and smirking - or at least, doing her best at trying to smirk. Then again, she shouldn't have too much trouble, as she'd spent her teenage years constantly seeing the King of Smirks do it.

"Only if you want it to be," he replied, grinning. "Well, take your time making up your mind. I'm going in first." He then proceeded to take off his shirt, and when he started to take off his pants Hermione realized she was staring and quickly spun around, fighting to keep a blush from rushing up to her cheeks. She heard Draco chuckling to himself as he dove into the water with a splash.

_Skinny dipping, eh? _Her inner voice said, amused. _That's something you haven't done before. How about it? Think you're up for it?_

Cameras, cameras, cameras, she told herself repeatedly. I'm _not_ going to strip naked in front of the camera.

_Even though Draco's plainly asking you to join him? _She could tell that her inner voice was enjoying itself. _Anyway, you're on a tropical island. Why not let yourself go and have some fun? Just because you skinny dip here doesn't mean you'll start skinny dipping _everywhere

Hermione had to admit that the notion was tempting. Her inner voice, sensing weakness, started voicing more and more tempting ideas until she was solid on her final decision of going into the lagoon, Island Eyes or no. "Turn around, Draco," she called out. He stopped swimming immediately and turned around, but not before she saw a huge, self-satisfied smirk on his face. "And wipe that expression off your face, ferret," she snapped, annoyed and then surprised at how easily the insult came out. Her brain must have remembered it from their schooldays.

Ah, nostalgia.

She quickly stripped next to the edge of the water and slid in, gasping quietly as cold water enveloped her sun-heated skin. The water was surprisingly clean, and the sun's rays made it sparkle as if someone had peppered it with glitter.

"You done yet?" Draco said, sounding bored.

She'd been so preoccupied with the water that she'd almost forgotten he was there. "Uh... yeah. You can turn around now." She did a few practise strokes and glided over to the waterfall, letting the falling water massage her neck and back. Ahhh... bliss. Her neck was cramped from constantly sleeping in strange angles and her back wasn't used to sleeping without a mattress. Sure, grass and leaves were somewhat soft but there was no way they could be compare to a proper mattress. "This is great," she called out. "You should try it."

"Been there, done that," he said flippantly, but he swam towards he anyway. Hermione found herself subconsciously sinking into the water so that only her shoulders were exposed. She supposed her prudish librarian ways were taking over. He stopped swimming when he was beside her, and waded forward slowly so that he was against the rocks underneath the waterfall, where he was out of the way of the downpour.

They stood there for a while in silence, facing each other. Hermione averted her gaze from Draco, fearing that if she looked at him she'd end up staring. As for Draco, he seemed to be trying to do the opposite. His eyes were focused on her.

Eventually, he spoke. "So... how's things with the rest of the Golden Trio?"

The question caught her by surprise. Then she started to laugh. "I thought you hated us," she teased. "What's with the sudden concern?"

"Hey! I'm not concerned!" Draco's voice told her that he was grimacing. "It's just... well, I haven't exactly kept up with things in the wizarding world, you know?"

Realization dawned on her. Draco was lonely! He was successful among the Muggles now - so successful that he hadn't had time to go back and experience the wizarding world again. He was out of touch with probably pretty much everyone, he didn't know anything about the latest news in the Daily Prophet, and he certainly had no idea how his former enemies were doing; had they turned into useless drunks and wife-beaters or were they the new Minister of Magic? For all he knew, they could be either.

"They're great. Harry's married to Ginny and he's a quidditch coach that several international teams are trying to hire. So you could say that he's pretty well-off. As for Ron, he's working here and there, but mostly he's helping his dad in the Ministry. As for his marital status, he has this weird love/hate relationship with Lavender. No-one really knows how that's gonna work out, but most of us are betting that they'll end up married," she smiled, and felt a tug of homesickness. It had only been a week or so and she already felt like she'd been gone forever.

"Married? How about this theory, he's gonna end up _gay_. Judging by what he was like at Hogwarts... urgh!" Draco trailed off sharply when Hermione delivered an award-winning stamp on his foot. "OK, OK. Fine. I won't judge his sexuality."

"Better not," she muttered ominously, feeling oddly like she was back in Hogwarts again, physically abusing him at every possible chance. "What about you? What's living among the people you used to hate like?"

He laughed. "Not too bad. Some things really amazed me at first. Like toasters! And TVs! And... well, lots of things. Makes me wonder why I despised Muggles so much in the first place." He looked at her. "And maybe I wouldn't have been so mean to you in school. Maybe we could have had a different relationship." He paused. "Maybe."

She met his eyes and he didn't look away. She felt herself leaning forward involuntarily and he cupped her face with his hands and kissed her deeply. This time she didn't pull away and let herself sink into it. She closed her eyes, feeling the heat of the kiss spreading like wildfire through her veins. She vaguely felt herself kissing him back, before she started to feel light-headed and eventually she didn't feel anything at all except the incessant pounding of the water on her face.

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

When she opened her eyes again she was lying on the grass beside the lagoon with her dress covering her. She sat up slowly, feeling her head pound as if she were still underneath the waterfall. "Ouch," she murmured, rubbing her temples in a futile attempt to reduce the migraine. She looked around for Draco, suddenly feeling a little bit anxious about what had happened between the time when she blacked out to now.

"Oh good, you're awake," she heard his familiar drawl behind her. She turned to face him, then turned back again quickly, in case he was still naked. He walked around her and stood in front of her, eating a handful of berries, thankfully fully dressed. He offered her some, and she took a few berries gratefully. "Well, I guess now you know it's not a good idea to stand under a pounding waterfall for too long. The pressure makes your brain go crazy."

"Yeah... well, I wish you'd warned me earlier," she grumbled, finishing the last of her berries.

He smirked. "First-hand experience is always better."

She smacked him on the head, grinning at his yelp of pain. "Right. So what happened after that?"

"I dragged you out of the water so you wouldn't drown. That pretty much sums it up, actually," he said, trying hard not to look below her face.

She was about to smack him again for his wandering eyes but then decided against it. He _did_ save her after all. If it weren't for him, she'd be at the bottom of the lagoon as fish food. Well, plankton food, since there were no fish in that lagoon. "Thank you," she said, somewhat sincerely. "And I seriously hope you didn't do anything weird to me while I was out cold, or you're dead." She peered at him suspiciously.

He put up his hands, laughing. "Calm down, calm down. I wouldn't sink that low."

Hermione looked at her wrist, then remembered she had no watch. She looked up at the sky, judging the time by the sun. It had moved quite a bit since its position when she got here. "We should probably start heading back," she said worriedly. "Or the others are going to catch on."

Draco grimaced. "I don't think we want _that _to happen. How about you go back to camp first, and I'll catch up later. It would look even more suspicious if we got back together."

She nodded and was about to stand up when she realized she still had to get dressed. "Erm, maybe you should go first," she said quickly. He took one look at her and, with a last smirk, nodded and disappeared into the thickets.

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

When Hermione got back to camp, she found Laurie acting out another one of her scenes. Thankfully this time her participation wasn't needed as Alex was chosen as her latest victim. He looked thrilled at the prospect.

Hermione sat in the doorway of her shelter, watching the scene playing in front of her with amusement. It seemed like they were doing a 'jealous mistress' thing, with Alex being the married man and Laurie the woman he was attempting to dump. The latter looked confused as she stared at Alex. "What are you saying? Don't you want to be with me anymore?"

"Look, we both knew this wasn't going to last," Alex said pleadingly, playing his part as the uncomfortable dumper well.

Hermione glanced at Draco, who was skinning a dead pig on the other side of the beach. He had arrived some time before she did, which was a miraculous feat considering he'd also brought along a carcass with him. When she saw the dead pig at first her face must have told him what she was thinking, because he'd quickly assured her that it wasn't the same pig she'd encountered earlier. She chuckled at the memory.

Alex looked over. "Is it nearly done?" he asked her, frowning. Hermione shrugged.

Laurie clicked her tongue impatiently, and he turned around quickly. "_Focus_, Alex!" she said crossly.

"Sorry," he said meekly. "Where were we?"

"Alright, now here's where I start to get a little desperate and worked up. You're starting to feel guilty too, and now you're trying to convince both me _and_ you that you never made any promises. Remember what I said about doing a performance with 'layers'?"

Alex looked pumped. "This is so cool," he said, grinning. Hermione smiled, watching him get ready for his role. "Right... ahem. Listen," he said in a pleading voice. "You know that this day would come sooner or later. And you know I could never leave my wife, because I love her. We had a wonderful relationship, but I think it's time to put things to an end." He touched her arm. "Before we fall too deep."

"What if I don't want to end this?" Laurie said defiantly.

He chewed his lip, looking worried. "I think we should," he said finally with an air of finality.

"But... but you said you loved me," she said, looking distraught.

"I suppose you could say I did, in a way." Alex averted his gaze and stared at the ground.

_Wow, he's really good at this,_ Hermione thought. _Or maybe it just comes naturally to all men. _She grinned at the thought, shifting her position a little and continued to watch.

"Is that all I was to you?" Laurie replied bitterly. "Just something to play with and then throw aside?"

"We both agreed that it wasn't something we'd make permanent."

"You think you can just toss me away now that you're tired of me? Is that it?"

"Don't say that. We were both very aware of the situation when we started this relationship, and we knew there would be a time to stop." Alex sighed melancholically. "This is it."

Hermione's smile faded a little bit. The talk of 'secretiveness' was starting to remind her of her current situation, with Draco. She glanced at him again, but he was either too far away to hear or he hadn't noticed anything that bothered him. _Gee, he sure is doing a great job of keeping things secret,_ a part of her brain thought wryly. But isn't that what they had agreed on? To pretend that nothing was going on between them?

Anyway, if they were seen on camera then she'd never sort things out with Krum. Even though she was totally against cheating, her relationship with Krum wasn't exactly great for a couple, and what happened at the airport when she left still irked her. She wasn't sure if she wanted to spend the rest of her life with someone like _him_.

"OK Kenny, now this is where you come in for the close-ups to show our expressions and emotions," Laurie instructed the cameraman, her voice cutting into Hermione's thoughts. "I'm angry, but I'm also feeling a bit stupid because obviously I knew nothing would come of this affair and that he'd never leave his wife for me. Layers, layers!"

_At least I'm not having an affair with a married man,_ she thought. Well OK, she had no idea about Draco's romantic status but she was pretty sure he wasn't taken. She wasn't dumb enough to go for him if she thought he might be attached.

_Are you sure about that? _her inner voice said merrily. _Have you even given a thought to what's gonna happen to you two _after_ the show? I don't think he said anything about that. Did he? Or did I just miss it?_

_Gee, when did my inner voice get so sarcastic?_ Hermione thought, slightly annoyed. But she realized it was right. He _hadn't_ said anything about getting together after the show. Did that mean he was just in for a fling? Was he already with someone else? She suddenly found herself wanting to interrogate him, ask him everything about his life. The fact that they met on a tropical island threw her off balance and she'd cast reality behind; but she would have to face it again soon enough. And she was sure her feelings weren't just going to disappear after the show ended.

The thing was, what about _his_ feelings?

Hermione heard the roar of Julia's jet along the beach, and was somewhat relieved at the distraction. Sure, Julia was a pain but at least she distracted Hermione from her irritating and probably irrational worries.

"Awesome, you're all here," Julia said, clapping her hands together as they gathered around. She turned to Draco, who was coming up the beach towards them. "You should have waited for the cameramen to catch up before you killed that pig," she said accusingly.

Draco looked at her, and then at the carcass. "Well it's not like I can do it again," he said, raising an eyebrow.

Julia sighed. "Very funny, Draco. Just make sure you have a cameraman with you, alright? After all, the audience wouldn't mind seeing some blood sometimes. Makes things more interesting than just watching you guys sitting around idly all day."

"We don't sit around idly all day," he scowled.

She flapped a hand at him, ending the argument. "Right, now what I was going to do was talk to you, Hermione." Julia stared at her. "About you and Draco."

Her hands suddenly felt cold. "Me? And Draco?"

"Yeah. About the two of you having a relationship."

**---xcxsurvivorxcx---**

Have they been found out already? How will the others react to this? Find out next time, on S U R V I V O R. :D

As a side note... I started a webmanga, go take a look! (It's my homepage, on my profile.) I'm trying to promote it every way I can so if you can help me by reading or even spreading the word, that would be great. XD Btw, don't be surprised if you see this promotional message in the next chapter of my other stories, too... -Runs-


	8. The Misconception

**S U R V I V O R**

Based on the book 'I Will Survive' by Samantha Connolly.

**A/N: **Well it's been a while, hasn't it? Anyway, here's chapter 8... I'm gonna try and update my other fic more frequently as well, it's been sitting around for WAY too long for my liking. And probably yours too.

**---xcxsurvivorxcx---**

**Chapter Eight**

**---xcxsurvivorxcx---**

"Why the hell did you tell-"

"Eighty-four percent think it's a good idea-"

Hermione and Julia broke off at the exact same moment, staring at each other somewhat warily.

"What were you going to say?" Julia asked, lifting her large sunglasses to the top of her head, her eyes fixed on the other woman's face.

"It's nothing," Hermione said quickly. "You go ahead."

After another moment of speculation, Julia cleared her throat and continued. "Eighty-four percent of the audience voted that Hermione and Draco should get together. They think that you two would make a cute couple," she explained to the two. Draco looked slightly amused while Hermione was trying hard not to let her mouth drop too far open in shock.

_Me and Draco? Do the audience know about our little visits to the lagoon or something? I'm sure we haven't acted anything out of the ordinary on camera._

She was snapped out of her thoughts by Laurie's protests. "That's not fair! How come she gets him and I don't?" she screeched.

Hermione was aptly reminded of what any normal woman would have said in a situation like this. "Sorry, but he's all mine," she joked, grinning and poking her tongue out at Laurie, who scowled back.

"Laurie, the audience thinks you're already involved with Alex," Julia said, checking her clipboard. "So it's only fair that Hermione gets Draco."

"That's ridiculous," Alex said hotly. "I already have a girlfriend who I'm very happy with." He frowned. "Is it because of those scenes we were doing?"

Julia looked interested. "Scenes? Sounds like good stuff."

Alex did not look particularly pleased. "Can you please make sure you're careful as to how you broadcast that? I don't want people to take them the wrong way."

"Hm, that's a good point," Julia said thoughtfully, jotting down a quick note. "I'll have to be careful with that."

Alex seemed slightly more relieved at her words.

Julia clapped her hands once everyone had gotten over the initial surprise and shock at the viewer opinions. "Alright. Now, to be honest, things on the island haven't been particularly exciting lately. The ratings so far have been great, but we'll need something other than the same old same old in order to keep the audience interested and coming back for more. As I recall, when I interviewed each of you guys the other day Hermione complained about there not being enough time for romance."

"I wasn't _complaining_, I was just stating facts!" Hermione said hotly, jumping up.

"Exactly. You said it yourself. _Facts_," Julia replied triumphantly. Hermione shot her an annoyed look and sat down as Laurie tugged on her arm. "So in order to make some relaxationg time for you guys, we're going to build a hot tub here near your shelters. I'm sure that after a few months you would have built one out of twigs or something anyway," she said, flapping a hand at Draco, who looked slightly murderous.

"You don't have a _hot tub_ on a deserted island, twigs or no twigs!" he argued. "Building one will ruin the whole natural aspect of the show. It'll just turn into another of those fake reality shows."

Julia tutted. "Yes, but this _is_ a reality show, and I know what will spice it up. So don't you worry, Draco, I'll make sure your show gets the best ratings out of all the other shows on TV."

"That's not the point," he sighed, shaking his head.

Laurie piped up. "_Please_, Draco! Let her do it! I'd give a limb to be in a hot tub right now."

Draco looked around at the other contestants. Hermione, despite her disagreements with Julia, looked hopeful and so did Alex. He sighed again. It was his job to make this show realistic and natural, but he really couldn't risk having the contestants spending the rest of the show moping around and sulking because he refused to let them have a hot tub installed. It would ruin things. "Alright... fine."

A cheer erupted at his words. Julia grinned at him and put on her sunglasses again. "Good choice, Draco. Well, we might as well make a night of it, and have a couple of crates of wine 'wash up' later. That should make things interesting. And don't be afraid to get down and dirty, either. You're all adults, there's nothing barring you."

"There's cameras around," Hermione said doubtfully, playing her part as the prudish librarian.

Julia smiled at her. "Look around - there's plenty of bushes. Use them to your advantage. We can always edit anything too explicit out later, you know. So go wild!"

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

Hermione felt Laurie's gaze on her as they gathered wood to add to the fire. Eventually, as they worked nearer each other, Laurie finally spoke. "So what did you guys get up to without us knowing?"

Hermione looked at her, trying her best to feign surprise. "'You guys'?"

Laurie rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on. Stop playing stupid. You and _Draco_, of course! I heard you when Julia was about to speak. _'Why the hell did you tell her about us?'" _she mimicked, adding to the end.

Funny thing was that she'd hit the nail right on the head; it was exactly what Hermione had been about to yell at Draco. She tried not to show her discomfort and composed herself, putting on a thoughtful expression on her face as if she was trying to remember when she'd said that. After a while she smiled. "Oh, that," she said flippantly. "I was just shocked at what Julia had said. I thought he'd told her that to boost the ratings or something. So what I was really about to say was '_Why the hell did you tell her something like that when you know it's totally false?'_". She tried not to look Laurie in the eye as she 'accidentally' dropped some of her armful of wood pieces and bent to pick them up, brushing sand off her graze as she did so to stall a bit more.

When she looked up again, the other woman was still staring at her suspiciously. "Are you sure there's nothing going on between you two?"

"Of course not," Hermione said indignantly. "Julia's just weird like that. You should know that by now. I mean... you and Alex?" She shook her head, laughing. "Don't know _what_ she's on."

Laurie laughed as well, thankfully. "Well, who cares. I'm just looking forward to tonight. Ahhh, it'll be so great... especially with the fact that we have wine." She winked at Hermione. "And who knows what else. Who knows, you might be able to get it on with Draco after all."

Hermione choked at the thought. "Uh... we'll see, I guess."

"You don't sound that enthusiastic," Laurie said, looking at her strangely. "Come on, it's _Draco Malfoy_. I'd have him in a second."

Funnily enough, Hermione felt her chest tighten. "Really? So have you done anything yet?"

Laurie shook her head, and Hermione let go of the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "But let's see what happens tonight, hm?"

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

"I'm not having an affair with Laurie," Alex said for the billionth time as Draco skinned the wild pig on camera.

"I know," Draco replied, getting slightly irritated. "You told me that half a minute ago."

Alex sighed sadly. "I know, but I'm just so worried! What if Julia broadcasts the scenes the wrong way? My girlfriend would kill me! I don't want to die young! And anyway, I love her."

Kenny finished off his carton of juice and started the film rolling. "I'm sure she knows it too," Draco answered as he turned to smiled into the camera. "I'm trying not to cut the skin too much because once dried, it becomes a great material for making shoes or clothing," he explained to an imaginary audience as Alex helped him cut the carcass as an example. He tried to keep his smile calm and steady while at the same time trying to ignore Alex as he muttered under his breath about something like 'kitchen knives' 'skinned' and 'like this pig'. The camera kept filming for another few minutes until Kenny signaled to stop, and Draco relaxed.

Alex's worries bubbled over again. "Do you really think that Julia will try to put a suggestive angle on Laurie and my acting? It's just an act..." he said nervously.

The blond man looked at him dubiously. "Well, all I can say is that Julia really loves her job."

"And I really love my girlfriend!" Alex moaned, looking stricken. He looked around randomly for an Island Eye. "I miss you, honey, I really do!" he yelled, waving frantically. Over on the beach, Hermione and Laurie looked over, shrugged, and waved back. He groaned, putting his face in his hands. "Great. I bet my girlfriend is going to apply all the knowledge you just gave her on skinning _me_ alive."

Draco laughed. "Don't worry. I'm sure she knows you love her. Things'll work out."

"There's nothing going on between me and Laurie," Alex said again. _That's a billion and one times_, Draco thought tiredly, but the next sentence made him perk up. "Just like there's nothing going on between you and Hermione."

_That means there _is_ something going on between you and Laurie,_ Draco wanted to say, but he didn't think Hermione would like it very much if he told all. Judging by the paling of her face and her yelling this morning when Julia mentioned them as a couple, she obviously didn't want anything to leak out. _Why? Does she have someone watching the show whom she doesn't want to reveal this to?_ He dismissed the thought. She wouldn't have done anything with him if she did. Hermione wasn't a two-timing sort of person.

"Of course there's nothing going on between us," he said, smiling amiably.

"And I'm a man who's happy with his girlfriend."

"Right."

"Right."

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

Night soon arrived and found them sitting in the hot tub, each with a glass of wine in their hands. Hermione didn't have a particularly high alcohol tolerance, so she carefully sipped her glass of wine in tiny amounts and took every chance she could to get out of the tub and empty her wine into the sand. She noticed that Draco hardly drank any either; the level of the wine in his glass barely went down. However, Laurie and Alex were making it up for them by drinking most of the alcohol. The latter looked slightly red in the face and the former was prone to sudden giggling fits. Kenny had disappeared onto the ship, probably hoping that they'd act more naturally without a camera in their faces.

At first everyone was slightly uncomfortable about all sitting in the tub together and apologized profusely everytime they touched someone else. But soon they were feeling so relaxed and warm that they stopped caring and just lay comfortably in the tub. After all, it was only feet and calves.

And muscular chest and abs. Well, in Draco's case at least. Hermione was trying her best not to look but her eyes were always irrevocably drawn to him. If that wasn't bad enough, he seemed to notice her doing it too, and whenever their gazes met he was smirking.

They'd started off sitting at right angles to each other but somehow Laurie had scooted over next to Draco and Alex had shifted next to Hermione. They were split into two pairs, but to Hermione's annoyance it was the wrong pairs. But she couldn't exactly wade over, push Laurie aside and sit down next to Draco. It would make it obvious that there was really something going on between them.

So instead Hermione settled for being opposite him. Which was just as well, because occasionally she felt his foot nudge her leg and when she looked at him he was grinning at her. It felt like they were sharing some kind of secret flirtation that none of the others could see. Well, at least she hoped no-one was noticing it.

There wasn't much conversation as everyone was enjoying the warmth of the water and sighing in contentment. But after a while of talking about random topics things eventually moved to Alex's girlfriend. "I met her at a wedding," he announced. "She was the bridesmaid, and when I saw her I just thought she was so beautiful. I guess you can say it was love at first sight."

Laurie peered at him. "You thought she was beautiful in a bridesmaid dress? Wow, that's love."

Alex nodded as he swirled the wine in his glass. "Yep." He looked a little forlorn. "I should do the confession cam. I really wish she was here. I miss her very presence."

Hermione was trying not to laugh and was about to fail miserably. One look at Draco told her he was suffering similarly.

Laurie opened her mouth to say something but apparently Alex wasn't finished. "I love her, I really do," he said feverishly. "She's amazing."

This time Hermione couldn't stop her splutter of laughter and coughed a few times to conceal it. Draco looked at her, laughing silently.

Laurie finished her wine with an audible gulp and giggled as she rose out of the water. She stumbled slightly and fell against Draco, who helped her back onto her feet. "Oops, sorry about that, Draco," she giggled again and leaned out of the tub to pour more wine, her butt nudging against his shoulder. Draco had an undecipherable look on his face, but Hermione didn't see any hints of enjoyment in his expression. Which was good.

Alex was staring with his mouth open and Hermione 'accidentally' elbowed him in the jaw as she did a fake yawn, effectively interrupting his gaping. Draco laughed and Laurie turned around sharply, slopping a bit of wine into the tub. "Did I miss something?"

"No, nothing," Draco said lazily, and Hermione ignored the suspicious look Laurie shot at her. "So, anyone want to hear what tomorrow's challenge'll be?"

"Oh man," Laurie said with a groan. "Can't we forget about that for just _one_ night? I just want to relax right now..." As she spoke she stretched and smiled up at Draco. "Come on, enjoy yourself. Stop thinking about tomorrow."

"I _am _enjoying myself," he said, amused. Hermione hoped that he didn't mean that he was enjoying the way that Laurie had draped herself over him.

"That's good," Laurie said, giggling again as she stood up, causing a small wave. "Sorry guys, I have to go use the little girl's room. Don't go anywhere," she said, patting Draco's shoulder.

Upon her leaving, Alex leaned drunkenly out of the tub and looked for more wine, causing another wave. "I think I should go easy on tomorrow's challenge," Draco said, raising an eyebrow as Alex mumbled to himself while he refilled his glass. "God knows how they're going to feel tomorrow morning."

Hermione laughed. "Yep, they're gonna have a hell of a hangover."

"So are you enjoying yourself?" Draco looked at her, smiling.

She smiled back, feeling strangely euphoric. "Sure. This _hot tub_ feels awesome," she said while wrestling his foot, which was brushing her thigh, away.

He smirked. "That's good to hear."

Alex soon sat back into the tub again, causing yet another tidal wave. Hermione looked around. "I'd better go check on Laurie, just in case she gets lost," she said, climbing out of the tub.

"Right, and I can have a man to man talk with Draco," Alex said.

Hermione ignored Draco's pleading look, and left with a grin on her face.

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

She found Laurie in the trees behind their huts, their designated toilet spot. It was surprising that she'd managed to find the place in her drunken state, but Hermione wasn't complaining. It saved her having to look for her everywhere which would undoubtedly be a long and tiring search.

"Hey, Hermione," Laurie said a little too loudly, giggling as she waved at the other woman. "Do I look flushed?" She started laughing. "Oh man, did I just say _flushed_? No pun intended."

Hermione raised an eyebrow in amusement and made random unnecessary adjustments to the blonde's hair. It was sad how some people looked perfect even when they were staggeringly drunk and were close to foaming in the mouth. "Any luck with Draco?" she asked innocently.

Laurie shook her head, rolling her eyes. "Nothing at all. I'm beginning to think that he might be a man's man."

Heavenly music started playing in Hermione's mind. "Oh. Too bad. Well, there're always other fish in the sea."

"Yeah," Laurie nodded. "Just because Draco's not working out doesn't mean I can't have some fun tonight." She tipped a wink at Hermione. "I think Alex is missing his girlfriend, if you know what I mean."

Alex had made that obvious, but it was clear that Laurie wasn't talking about it on the same level. "What do you mean?"

"Well, Alex's toned up a bit in the last couple of days... it could be fun. It would be better than abstaining any longer," Laurie said, making a face.

That didn't sound good. "Listen, you don't want to do this," Hermione said, trying to discourage her. "Alex is _taken_. Everyone would know if you tried anything."

"We could always do it under a bush," the other woman said flippantly, giggling again.

"I don't think people are that blind," Hermione muttered. "Come on, Laurie. You're drunk, you don't really want to do this. Imagine how you would feel the next morning."

Laurie narrowed her eyes at her. "You want him for yourself, don't you? Well hands off, I bagged him first."

Hermione tried a different tactic. "The audience will hate you if you do this. Your votes will drop and you'll lose your chance to get the money. You don't want to lose the prize just for a bit of fun, do you?"

"Oh please," Laurie laughed. "Audiences love a bitch. It's _him_ they won't be voting for, since technically he's the one cheating. I'm perfectly innocent."

Hermione tensed up, but then relaxed with a smile. "Oh, I get it. This is one of your scenes, isn't it? Wow, you really got me there." She brushed a hand through her hair. "Jeez, Laurie, you've got some talent."

Laurie narrowed her eyes at her. "I'm not acting, Hermione. Well, try this for one of your _scenes_. Audiences love a wronged woman even more than they do a bitch." She put on a mournful face. "'He said he loved me...'"

A surge of anger burst through Hermione and she grabbed Laurie by the shoulders roughly. "Ow, you're hurting me," Laurie whimpered. "Leggo."

"Don't even think about doing anything, Laurie," she growled. "If you so much as peck him on the cheek you'll be in big, big trouble. I'm serious." With that, she let go with a disgusted expression on her face and stalked away.

At the same time Draco emerged from behind a tree, feeling slightly shocked. _What the hell was that I just heard?_ he thought dumbly. He walked over to Laurie, who was hugging herself, looking slightly frightened. When he approached, her head whipped up and her eyes grew wide.

"Did you hear all that, Draco?" she asked, glancing around. "I didn't realize you were there..."

He shook his head. "No, I only caught the last part," he said. "What happened?"

Laurie flung herself into his arms. "Oh, it was horrible," she sniffed. "I just said how much I admired you as a friend and Hermione started shaking my shoulders and threatening me not to go near you..."

Draco would never have believed her if he didn't see it with his own eyes. He was unpleasantly surprised that Hermione could be prone to such a jealous rage; if this was what she was like, then she had really changed from how he remembered her. The Hermione he remembered was somewhat violent and sharp-tongued, but she would never be like this over such a petty matter.

"I'm so glad you came, Draco," purred Laurie as her hands roamed under his shirt and over his bare skin.

_Great, this is just what I need_, he thought as he gently pried her off himself. "I don't think you're used to drinking this much. Your body's probably not taking it so well," he said as he put an arm around her to steady her and helped her back to the shelters. "Come on, let's get you to bed."

**---xcxsurvivorxcx---**

I'm doneeeeeeeeeee! Hallelujah! This took a long time as well but at least it wasn't an 7 month hiatus like Sugar and Spice. -.- Anyway, I'm planning to do some speed-writing and get the next few chapters typed up before the end of the holidays so the oncoming schoolwork won't disturb my update schedule too much like it has in the last year.


	9. The Surprise

**S U R V I V O R**

Based on the book 'I Will Survive' by Samantha Connolly.

**A/N: **I didn't put in the accent on the 'e' in 'fiance' and various other accents because it was too much trouble trying to find the accented character every time I typed the word, so I guess you anal perfectionists out there will have to bear it. XD

**---xcxsurvivorxcx---**

**Chapter Nine**

**---xcxsurvivorxcx---**

"Come on, let's get you to bed."

Hermione's head was spinning. The video from the Island Eye was dark and blurry but it wasn't hard to tell who the two figures were. And judging by how Laurie's hands had planted themselves under Draco's shirt and he was making no effort to remove them, that line was probably in the context that she thought it might be in. _You're a fool if you thought Draco had changed that much,_ her inner voice sneered. _So he kissed you a couple of times. That means nothing to him. He'd rather have someone who wants to go further._

"It might not mean anything at all," Kenny said with a light shrug as he shut the camera with a light blip.

The video closed but the image was burned into her mind. Hermione composed herself the best she could. "I don't really mind," she said, smiling slightly. "Looks pretty amusing to me." She forced a chuckle out of herself and stood. "Well, I'd better go do the confession cam before I forget. See ya later, Kenny."

"Bye," Kenny said and she waved before disappearing into the forest. Before she reached the hut, she stopped and changed direction. She couldn't possibly do the confession cam properly in her state; she felt like she could scream at any moment. The feeling of anger and jealousy in her mind was preventing her from thinking rationally and she walked slowly back to her shelter, silently fuming.

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

Julia was waiting when Kenny got back to the boat. "So? How did she take it?" she demanded.

Kenny avoided looking at her and pretended to repeatedly clean the lens of his camera. It had bothered him to show Hermione the video, but Julia had insisted and when Julia insisted you do something, you did it. For once in his life he resented the fact that he was a cameraman. He wasn't lying when he told Draco he liked Hermione; she was interesting and genuinely nice. He decided he wouldn't tell Julia how Hermione's face had paled and how forced her smiles were.

"She didn't seem to really care," he told her expressionlessly. "She actually said it was funny."

Julia grinded her teeth and put her hands on her hips in frustration. That Hermione was proving to be a hard one to get a reaction out of. "Never mind. We'll definitely get _something_ out of her later."

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

Hermione sighed as she remembered this morning. She had been looking carefully at Laurie and Alex just in case anything had happened; she was a little worried when she saw that Laurie looked pleased with herself and Alex looked a little pale and bedraggled. Hopefully it wasn't a result of anything between them last night.

And the weirdest thing was when she'd cheerfully said good morning to Draco. He had given her a strange look and politely said hello back. She was surprised at his distance but nudged the discomfort to the back of her mind and supposed it was just to make up for their secret 'communication' last night. At least she hoped it had been secret - what if people had noticed? Was that the reason for Draco's mannerism?

_Oh, stop analysing everything so much,_ her brain told her sharply. _So he's not as warm as usual. That doesn't mean anything!_

She decided to trust its reasoning and went on with her business. But as the day went on, Draco continued to give her odd looks and avoid her eyes. Hermione's niggling discomfort grew larger and larger, until Kenny pulled her aside and showed her the video. And she finally realized what it was all about.

No wonder he had been uncharacteristically reluctant to reveal their relationship to the public. He had someone better lined up. Hermione tried not to get too worked up about it; after all, it had only been a couple of kisses and a bit of frolicking at the lagoon, right? But she couldn't seem to get him out of her mind and to lose him to Laurie wasn't something she could stand by and take. Yet she also didn't want a catfight. Julia would love it but Hermione probably wouldn't come out on top. _And_ she would lose votes for starting it. She wasn't just here for the money, but it was good to keep at least a portion of her mind on it.

Funnily enough she felt tears welling up in her eyes when she thought of Draco and Laurie. She sniffled. So much for having changed his playboy habits. He was still the same old Draco Malfoy, playing around with one girl and going after another just as quickly. And unfortunately for her, she was the girl being played.

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

It was hard to ignore Julia when she was yelling at her loudest, but Hermione had to give up when the woman started calling her name through a bullhorn. She reluctantly headed to where the boat - and Julia - was, moving as slowly as she possibly could.

"Alright everyone," Julia said, clapping her hands together. "I've got a wonderful surprise for you contestants."

At this, Hermione, Alex and Laurie looked at each other dubiously, grudges temporarily forgotten. Julia's idea of a wonderful surprise wasn't always equally wonderful in everyone else's eyes.

Julia either didn't notice or chose to ignore the skeptical looks the others gave her, and tilted her head at Alex. "Have a look at who's here," she said, giving him a grin and pointing towards her left.

He followed her direction and turned to the right. Hermione watched as his face suddenly lit up as he spotted the dark-haired woman climbing awkwardly out of a small lifeboat on the beach a few dozen metres away. "Teresa?" he said in wonder, dashing over to greet her. "Teresa!"

"Aww, look at that, a sweet boyfriend-girlfriend reunion," Julia cooed. "Kenny, make sure you get it on camera or I'll have your hide." Kenny quickly obliged.

The couple soon approached the rest of the group. "Hi everyone," Teresa said shyly. She didn't sound British, her consonants slightly drawn out and her speech soft at the same time. "I'm Teresa. I'm very happy to meet all of you; it's so exciting to be here! Everyone talks about it in the supermarket and at work and such. It's so amazing to think that my Alex is in the show."

Laurie beamed at her and grabbed her hand, sitting her down on the nearest log. "Hiya, I'm Laurie, you have to tell me what the audience thinks about me."

Teresa looked a little awed and flustered, as if she wasn't used to being paid this much attention. "Everyone thinks you're great, they really love your 'acting' scenes. We all think you're so funny and talented."

"Oh, I've died and gone to heaven!" Laurie said dramatically, pressing her hands to her heart. "I don't care if I don't win the money, this is all I need, the recognition and support. Thank you so much!" She gave Teresa a hug.

Hermione could feel her eyeballs heading north so she blinked and introduced herself. "Hello, I'm Hermione. We've heard so much about you."

The look Teresa gave her couldn't be more different from the one Laurie got. "Yes, I know you," she said acidly, all traces of shyness gone. "I saw you in the hot tub with my boyfriend last night." She glared at her and went to greet the other people.

Hermione was stunned. Did she do something to Alex that she shouldn't have without knowing it?

Alex leaned over to her while Teresa was distracted. "Don't mind her too much. I don't really remember much about last night but I'm sure nothing went on."

"Of course nothing went on between us," she snapped rather loudly, and several heads turned. Teresa glared at her again before Draco introduced himself and she blushingly shook his hand, the picture of daintiness. Hermione sighed. What a wonderful first impression _she'd_ made.

She was wondering if they were allowed to leave when Julia called Hermione's name again. "Our surprises aren't over yet," she said, winking at them all. As if on cue, another boat zoomed into view and a few minutes later, beached. There were two people on it. One of them stepped off.

He was wearing plain, casual clothes; blue jeans and a printed t-shirt. The shirt had some palm trees printed on the front and it looked like he had picked it to go with the whole island situation. Hermione found it vaguely cute, but it still didn't overcome her discomfort at seeing him. The discomfort only increased when he pulled her into a hug.

"Everyone," Julia announced through her bullhorn again. "This is Hermione's fiance."

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

Draco wondered if he was hearing and seeing things. _Fiance?_ he thought, bewildered. _Since when did Krum become her fiance? And how come she never told me before? _The more he thought about it the more annoyed he became. So this was how she was going to play it. Well, he wasn't going to back down now. He glanced at her as Krum let go and she gave him a defiant look, which only made him even more bemused.

He'd managed to convince himself that last night's temper tantrum had been nothing but the babbling of a drunken Hermione, but there was no way he could find a way to deny _this_.

Krum went around and shook hands with everyone. Everyone apart from Draco and Hermione were Muggles, which was good because they had no idea how famous Krum was in the Wizarding world. When he came around to Draco, his face grew surly. "Draco Malfoy," he pronounced. "Thank you for taking care of Herm-own-nee."

_Well at least _I_ can say her name properly,_ the other man found himself thinking viciously as he forced out a friendly smile and gripped Krum's hand a little too tight. When he winced Draco quickly let go so that he didn't break any bones - as much as he'd like to right now. "It's good to see you."

Krum nodded. "Me also," he said politely but the expression on his face told Draco that he was anything but good. He headed towards Hermione and stood beside her, and Draco was struck by what an odd couple they made. He'd always thought so, even since he saw them during the Yule Ball back in Hogwarts.

"This is Victor Krum," Hermione announced a moment later, smiling slightly at him.

Laurie ran up to him, as expected, and shook his hand. "Gosh, Hermione's told us all about you." She grinned at Hermione. "Not! You're such a dark horse. How come you never mentioned anything about him?"

"Oh, everyone's got their secrets," Hermione said flippantly, glancing casually at Draco. "Right?"

He looked away and told himself to calm down; he was so angry with her that he wasn't sure if he could hide it. But was it just anger? He wondered if he was hurt at the fact that she got involved with him even though there was already someone else in her life. Then again, it seemed like she had changed so much that it occured to him that he might not even know what she was like anymore.

On the other hand, Laurie seemed to have completely forgiven Hermione for last night's outburst. Then again, she probably forgot everything as she had been bubblingly drunk when Draco had finally managed to tow her back to her shelter last night.

"Sorry, Laurie," Julia said when the babble had died down. "We were trying to bring one of your parents here or something but there was a visa problem." She rolled her eyes. "We did try! But it didn't work out."

Laurie's disappointment was embarrassingly fake. "Oh, that's alright. Draco can be _my_ date for the evening."

Draco smiled weakly. Wonderful.

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

The one thing Hermione liked about Krum right now was how his English had improved. It still had an accent, but it was no longer hard to understand certain portions of his speech. And there was the fact that he could now nearly pronounce her name. 'Herm-own-nee' still wasn't quite on the dot but it was better than 'Hermy-own-ninny' or whatever he managed to cook up years ago when they first met.

But it still came as a slightly nasty surprise when they announced him as her fiance. True, they had been going out on and off in the past few years and she hadn't been seeing anyone else besides him, but what had really happened was that he had suddenly proposed to her shortly before the trip and she didn't have a chance to think about it with all her preparations. And to be honest, being on the island had pretty much all but wiped it from her mind. She felt a little guilty, but also confused. They hadn't even been together when he asked her to marry him. In short, it had come out of the blue.

She was aware that she had to say something to him to clear things up. And she would have in front of everyone as soon as his status had been declared, but the look of shock on Draco's face remedied her wounded pride and she decided to not say anything after all. So it would have to wait. To tell the truth she did not feel ready to marry him at all. She wasn't even sure if she _wanted_ to. So there was only one answer for him. It made her cringe to even think about being so heartless after he flew all the way here to see her, but she couldn't lead him on any longer.

Hermione was about to open her mouth when Krum smiled at her. "Everyone has sent their best vishes," he said, pecking her on the cheek. "Ve are all very happy that you are doing so vell."

"Thanks," she said warmly, grimacing slightly. _I can't do this to him. Not now._ She knew that it would get harder with each passing minute and it was already becoming difficult. Yet she still could not bring herself to say anything.

"So, how about showing me around?" he asked as he took her hand, breaking the slightly awkward silence. "Lead the way."

She brought him to the camp, showing him their 'kitchen'. "This is where we keep the coconuts. The green ones are the ones with milk inside and the dry ones over there are the ones that can be eaten."

"This is so veird," Krum mused. "I feel like I know this place, but I've only seen it a few times on TV."

"You don't watch this show?" Hermione said, surprised.

He shook his head apologetically. "Sorry. I haff to travel around a lot for Quidditch. Though I votch the show venever I can."

"That's alright," she said, a little relieved. She had always felt a little uncomfortable about him seeing her on the island, especially with Draco. What if he had picked something up? At the thought of Draco, she felt herself getting mad again and shut him from her mind, but when she turned around she spotted him sitting at the fire with Laurie, talking and joking.

_There's just no escaping him, is there,_ she thought tiredly. She sighed and led Krum to the shelters. "Anyway, this is where we sleep at night. It looks small, but it's got quite enough room inside. Even for two people."

Krum chuckled. "Of course, you haff already tested that, haven't you?"

Hermione froze. "Um, I guess so."

"I saw the episode ven you and Draco slept in the same shelter, and there haff been a lot of stuff about you two on the vebsite," he said, looking a bit sour. "But don't vorry, I trust that nothing happened between you two."

"Thank you, and of course nothing happened," she said a little indignantly. "We're always microphoned. Like you are now." She tapped the little black mike around his neck.

"That's good to know," he murmured and leaned in to kiss her. And she didn't pull back.

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

It was amusing seeing Teresa and Krum staring and picking at their food with a slightly forced expression. It was obvious that they were not too enthusiastic about having leftover pork for dinner. The four natives, however, were eagerly digging in, leftovers or no.

Hermione had managed to avoid having too much intimate conversation with Krum all afternoon, distracting him with talk of the island and stuff like that. She taught him how to do the basics; poking coconuts down from the trees, how to distill seawater into drinkable water and how to build a frame for grilling food over an open fire.

Her diversions lasted until dinner, and she realized that she was starting to feel more and more regretful that she had introduced Krum as her fiance. The longer she stayed silent, the deeper the hole she dug herself. It was going to be hard to get out.

Draco, who had been subtly ignoring her all day, was very obviously blanking her now. He didn't even bother to hide it anymore. Hermione could understand his anger; it wasn't exactly appropriate for her to produce a fiance out of thin air just when their relationship was starting to take off, but it wasn't as if Draco was all innocent himself. In fact, _he_ had been the asshole first that night.

So she was ignoring him right back and tuned in to Teresa, who was talking about some holiday to Italy that she and Alex were going to have together after the show.

"... we're not exactly sure what we want for our holiday, but we've got some ideas," Teresa was saying to anyone who would listen. Alex nodded dutifully, beaming at her as he did so. "We didn't plan it with Alex winning the money in mind, but if he did, we could probably go around the whole world." She laughed, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"That sounds so romantic," Laurie sighed wistfully. "I really need to find myself a boyfriend. Fast."

Teresa laughed and the chatter continued.

Hermione sighed to herself, and Krum looked at her, rolling his eyes. He wasn't joining in the conversation and it looked like he had no plans to. That was one thing she'd always found slightly irritating about him; he never tried to socialize. Practically the only reason people talked to him was because he was a Quidditch star. Of course she herself didn't do that, which she suspected was the reason he kept trying to get back together with her. Coupled with her weak will when it came to love, the result was their on-and-off relationship over the past few years.

"So are you plannning to move if you win the money?" Alex was asking Laurie.

She looked thoughtful. "Hmm, that's a tough one. Continue living with my crazy flatmate who hangs her underwear everywhere, or live elsewhere?" Then she froze as she spotted the camera. "Um, by crazy, I mean she's a very sweet girl. Oh man," she laughed, covering her face in embarrassment and tilting her head onto Draco's shoulder.

Draco patted her shoulder, chuckling. "There there. I'm sure she won't have changed the locks by the time you come back."

It was almost sickening watching those two not even bothering to disguise the fact that they were a couple. Hermione's resolve to ignore him grew steadily stronger.

Alex turned to Hermione. "And how about you?"

She looked at Krum. "Well, we haven't really thought about it... I mean, Viktor's proposal was kinda sudden..."

Everyone's head turned towards her, interested looks on their faces. Krum looked slightly stricken. _Oh boy, this is it,_ she thought. _I have to get this off my shoulders now, otherwise I'll never be able to do it. Krum is nice, but he is _not_ the man I want to spend the rest of my life with._

"And I didn't really get a chance to give you an answer..." she continued, feeling worse and worse as she went on. Everyone leaned closer, with the exception of Draco, who was trying to look like he didn't care but was failing miserably. That gave her a little spark of courage, and she composed herself to go on.

Krum had a strange look on his face. Hermione thought she saw a hint of guilt and panic, but it disappeared as quickly as it came. "You're right," he said, reaching into his jacket. For one insane moment, Hermione thought he was going to pull out his wand and jinx her. Then, he pulled out a small velvet box. He opened it, and revealed a stunning diamond ring set in white gold. "Hermione Granger, vill you do the honor of marrying me?"

Hermione sucked in her breath as she stared at the ring. This was it. She had to stop this facade right here. It was now or never.

"I... I'm sorry. I can't."

**---xcxsurvivorxcx---**

MAN that took ages... I had to deviate from the book plot because otherwise it wouldn't really have worked, so that took me a bit of procrastinating and thinking to get the right idea. Anyway, please enjoy, I'll be going to China for a month in a week so I won't be doing any writing until I get back. Au revoir!


	10. The Turmoil

**S U R V I V O R**

Based on the book 'I Will Survive' by Samantha Connolly.

**A/N: **Wow, it's been a while. And yes, I'm still alive.

I was just looking at the oldest fic on my profile (the Pokemon one) and I realized that I'd finished it in a fortnight. Whoa. So... where's that writing inspiration now? Lol. The truth is, I'm still looking... and as you can see, without too much success. Oh well. I try.

**---xcxsurvivorxcx---**

**Chapter Ten**

**---xcxsurvivorxcx---**

The atmosphere around the fire immediately became very awkward.

Hermione lowered her head, glancing at Krum as she did so. He had a surprised look on his face, but funnily enough she only detected a small portion of genuine sadness in his expression. In fact, most of his faced showed hastily concealed _relief_ - which was definitely not what she was expecting.

"V-vell, Herm-own-nee... I'm sorry to hear that," he said, stumbling over his words slightly. "I guess ve vill talk later... if I can persuade you to change your mind. Maybe I took you by surprise." He looked at her hopefully.

The others stared at her as if she had just murdered a kitten, except for Draco, whose face was still closed off to her as he poked the fire. She felt somewhat better; it would have been much, much worse if _he_ had looked at her like that too. It would prove that he really didn't care about her.

"Hermione, you really are an ice queen, aren't you?" Laurie said, laughing and breaking the tension. The others tittered as well. "Well, let's hope that you change your mind. Poor Viktor looks completely heartbroken." She nudged him playfully in the ribs.

_Actually, he looks happier than he did when he came here_, Hermione thought.

"She is right, ve hadn't been going out for long when I asked," he lamented. "So it is no surprise... I cannot say I was confident at all that she vould say yes."

_We've been going out on and off for years, in case you got a sudden case of amnesia, _she thought viciously, surprised at how readily the venomous tone emerged. Maybe rejecting Krum was better off for her sanity than she'd initially expected.

"Well, that's over and done with, despite the sad ending," Alex said, sounding unsuitably cheerful. "All I can offer is some man-to-man condolence; good luck with other women in the future, Viktor. Maybe Hermione just isn't the right girl for you."

Krum nodded solemnly, as if taking the advice to heart.

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

Teresa had been attempting to drag Alex off to bed for the last 15 minutes, but Hermione kept pinning them down.

"So, where else would you go if you won the prize money? France? Hawaii?" she shot at them relentlessly. "Have you booked your tickets yet?"

"Uh, we're still thinking about it," Teresa said, giggling nervously. "We're taking things one step at a time. It can't happen without the money, so that comes first." Hermione noticed her tugging gently on Alex's arm as she spoke.

Alex quickly stood up. "Well, I think that's it for us for the night," he said. "Teresa and I could really use some sleep." They both blushed crimson as the others laughed at his comment and wolf-whistled loudly. Hermione felt sorry for them and decided that she would let them go this time. After all, they deserved it after her bombarding them with pointless questions.

Unfortunately alone time with her partner was exactly what Hermione didn't want, but she didn't see any way she could continue to chatter comfortably at the fire now that the only people left were the ones she really didn't want to talk to. There was an uncomfortable period of silence, then Krum finally patted her on the shoulder. "I think ve should head in for the night too," he suggested, smiling slightly. "I vill have to face the lizards at some point."

She returned his smile the best she could, and decided that facing Krum would be better than staying at the fire and trying not to look at Laurie and Draco sitting together. Her brain was caught up in a tornado of emotions that were previously foreign to her, ones that she had seldom encountered before; now they were all spinning around in her chest cavity at the same time.

What a night.

"Goodnight, you two," Krum said as he helped Hermione to her feet. "Sleep vell."

Laurie winked at him. "We sure will. Goodnight to you too."

Along the way to the shelter, Hermione busied herself with trying not to show her jealousy by running back and bitch-slapping Laurie into the middle of next week. The blonde was definitely making a mistake by being so obvious about her and Draco. Once the show was over Draco would toss her aside and move on to someone else_. At least _my_ humiliation wouldn't be so publicized, now that I've nipped our relationship in the bud_, she told herself convincingly.

Krum obviously had nothing much to say to her either, because he stayed quiet throughout the journey and didn't attempt to make small talk. They got to the shelter a few minutes later and Hermione broke the silence by warning him to duck his head so he wouldn't hit the top of the opening. He did as he was told, but hit it anyway. Muttering curses in Bulgarian to vent his anger at the doorway, Krum then plopped down on the bedding, effectively taking up most of the space with his sprawling posture.

"Do you mind moving to the side a bit? I have to sleep here too, you know," Hermione said jovially, trying not to show her irritation.

Krum grunted and shifted over onto his side. His inability to communicate in English did nothing to improve Hermione's mood as she lay down and unceremoniously pushed back against him slightly so that she could get a bit more room. His back against hers should have been comforting, but it only provided a further reminder that there were now intruders in the quiet island life that she'd just about gotten used to. It made her wonder how they'd survived those nights spent together back when they were still dating. Was he always this selfish? _And was I always so easily annoyed?_

She gazed outside through the opening of the shelter, spotting a star twinkling in the distance. She was just tired from the day, that must be why she was in such a foul mood. With a burst of optimism, she decided that things would probably be a lot better in the morning after she got some well-needed rest.

"Herm-own-nee," Krum said suddenly. Hermione nearly jumped up in shock but with managed to keep her body still, with some effort. "There's something I vould like to tell you."

"Mmm," she said sleepily, pretending she was already in a half-dreaming state. She waited a few moments, then threw in some fake snores for good measure. Whatever he was about to say, she didn't want to hear it now. She'd had quite enough drama for one day.

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

"It looks too dangerous," Teresa said nervously.

"We'll be OK, sweetie," Alex told her comfortingly.

_If she says that one more time,_ Hermione thought, _I'm going to push her over the edge._

Despite her optimism last night, Hermione didn't find herself in an even slightly better mood this morning. In fact, she'd been cramped all night without the leg space she was used to and had woken up sore and still irritated as hell. Unfortunately this meant that everyone and everything seemed to be getting on her nerves. Krum had taken a good 15 minutes of convincing before he finally agreed to come along, and now Teresa's anxious twittering was really starting to grate on her nerves.

"Don't worry, it'll be alright," Laurie said, joining in on comforting Teresa. "Look, Draco knows what he's doing."

Hermione nearly snorted but managed not to make it too obvious by stepping over to the edge of the cliff and peering down. Draco was almost at the bottom.

Since there were guests on the island, Draco had decided to lay off the challenges for a while as the visitors might pose to be a distraction. Instead, he'd announced that morning that they would be doing a fun activity - pair abseiling. They were going to go down the rock face in twos, except for Laurie, who would be going down by herself as Draco had to be at the bottom to make sure the others were doing everything properly and safely. This made Hermione grin for a second, but then she thought about the virtual non-existance of her athleticism and her smile disappeared as quickly as it came.

Draco had tied a thick rope around a sturdy tree near the cliff face, and after giving them a set of harnesses and abseiling gear each he showed them how to put it on and how to use it as they were going down. He then proceeded to go down first, to be followed by Laurie and the two couples. They were all nervous and excited about the prospect of doing something dangerous and new, except for Teresa, who was just plain nervous.

Hermione watched as Draco finally planted both feet on the ground and looked up. She quickly withdrew her head, feeling slightly foolish, then turned to inform the others. "He's at the bottom. Laurie, you're up next."

Laurie gave a squeak and Kenny zoomed the camera in on her face. "Any last words?" he asked, grinning.

Hermione gave him a light slap on the shoulder as she double-checked Laurie's gear. "That's not helping, Kenny," she said, then turned to the blonde. "You'll be fine. Just go for it!"

Laurie gave her a jittery nod and after some hesitation, slowly descended down the cliff, squealing as she did so. Draco continually threw tips and directions at her as a way to distract her from the height as she went, and the others noticed that Laurie was starting to look less fearful and more ecstatic as she inched further down. Teresa, however, was squawking almost as much as Laurie even though she was safely on the ground and Hermione, who was trying to listen to Draco's advice to Laurie, was starting to get annoyed.

"Viktor," she said, turning to him. "Want to go next?"

He looked surprised at her apparently enthusiasm, but nodded readily. "Sure, vhy not?"

A few minutes later, Laurie reached the bottom, and the others cheered wildly. "_I did it!_" she screeched, hugging Draco with teary eyes. "Oh my God, I really made it! That was awesome!" She looked up at the others, waving frantically. "You guys have _got_ to do this. Especially you, Teresa - and I don't mean going down by the steps we came up from!"

Teresa looked only slightly reassured by Laurie's success, but Alex eventually managed to convince her that if Laurie could do it, she could do it too. At least it stopped her from chattering nervously the whole time. She watched apprehensively as Hermione and Krum checked each other's gear, and when Draco signalled that it was OK for them to proceed they slowly let themselves past the edge of the cliff.

Here the wind had no obstacles in its path and so it hit them much stronger than before. Hermione swayed as she struggled to keep both feet on the cliff face and leaned back as far as she dared, taking baby steps down. It reminded her of the time when she'd climbed up that banana tree all by herself; it was an exhilarating feeling, and made her feel like she could do anything she put her mind onto.

Her peaceful reverie was broken by Krum's wind-blown voice reaching her ears. She turned to him and he motioned for her to lean a bit closer so that she could hear what he was saying. After some careful manuevring, she managed to position herself a little more to the right, so that she was descending at an angle. Krum did the same towards his left until finally they were close enough to converse. Beneath them, Draco yelled up at them asking what they were doing, but Hermione merely tossed him a we're-having-a-chat-here-if-you-don't-mind look and ignored him.

"Listen, Herm-own-nee... I vanted to tell you this last night, but you fell asleep," Krum started, looking apologetic. Hermione brushed away the pinpricks of guilt dotting her mind and nodded. "Vell, how should I say this... I..."

"Don't worry, Viktor, just say it," she said as she dodged a large portruding shaft of rock and inched back to his side again. "Plus, we're nearly halfway down and I can't pretend to be this slow for forever."

Krum's expression turned sheepish and he scratched his head, a motion that made him swing wildly to one side for a moment before recovering. "Uh... Hermione, vhile you were gone, I... met someone else."

Hermione felt cold shock for a moment, then very hot rage. She wanted to reach over and slap him senseless for this betrayal but refrained from doing so at such a height and in such an awkward posture for fear of her life. But she couldn't believe it. They had been seeing each other for so long, even if it was on and off that she had never really thought about dating other people. Krum, however, didn't seem to suffer such mental limitations - and worst of all, he was _two-timing_ them both, whoever the other person was. She felt that all those years of knowing him now amounted to very little. So he was just another cheating jerk after all.

"You know, Viktor, I thought you could be trusted! I mean..." She faltered as she suddenly realized, with a heavy heart, how hypocritical she was being and quickly swallowed her angry accusations. After all, she had done the same to Krum with Draco on the island, and then lied to him by saying that nothing happened. Krum, at least, was more honest than she was. "But why did you propose to me then?"

He didn't speak for a while and they descended a bit further, both lost in their own thoughts. It was only when they were nearly all the way down the cliff that he spoke. "I proposed to you... to see how serious about us you vere. I vas having an affair, yes, but I still thought of you as my top priority. So I decided to ask you to marry me and see vat you said; if you agreed, I vould break off the affair and be a faithful husband, but if you rejected me as you did, I vould... vell, my affair vould continue."

Hermione wasn't expecting something this elaborate and deceptive from him, but it did nothing to lessen her anger. "You used the proposal to _test_ me?" she yelled, fuming. "So it was all just a trial, to see what I would say? And either way, you'd come out on top because you'd have someone to be with, while one of _us_ would be left alone? I can't believe you, Viktor! I never thought you'd stoop so _low_!" In a raging spur of the moment, she forgot all about where she was and lunged at him, kicking at him the best she could. She was pleased when she landed a few hits, but in her maddened state she was totally unaware of the rest of her surroundings and all of a sudden, she found herself dangling upside-down nearly a dozen metres from the ground.

The top half of her harness had somehow come loose.

There was a shrill scream from both above and below her, which she vaguely identified as Teresa and Laurie, respectively. She felt that it would be appropriate to join in, but she was so shocked that nothing would come out when she opened her mouth. _I'm danging from a frail rope metres from the ground. If I fall, my head's going to crack open like a coconut. Or worse, like a watermelon. _

She could also hear Krum shouting above her, sounding both fearful and apologetic at the same time while Draco cursed loudly and ran beneath her, trying to adjust the ropes so that she could be lowered down slowly. This worked for a while, and she was relieved to see the ground getting closer. _I'm saved! And what's more, I just had a near-death experience that I can now boast to everyone about!_

"_Herm-own-nee! The harness!_" she suddenly heard Krum yelling. "_It's about to break!_"

The next part happened as if in slow motion. With a dreadful ripping noise, like a young child ripping a Barbie's hair from her scalp, the harness broke and she fell down slowly towards the rocky ground, still several metres away. She shut her eyes and clenched her jaws together, trying to bundle herself into a foetal position so that she would take minimal damage when the inevitable collision occured.

It occured, but it was a lot softer than she expected. She felt someone's arms around her before they both toppled to the ground, and opened her tightly closed eyes to find herself staring at the side of Draco's blonde head. He was panting slightly, and had fallen on his backside as he caught her, but looked fine otherwise. Hermione was slightly surprised and embarrassed to find herself whimpering, and instead of letting her go immediately as she'd expected, he kept his arms circled around her for a moment longer.

In the next moment, everyone was crowded around them. Krum had quickly abseiled down the remainder of the cliff while Teresa, Alex and Kenny used the emergency steps that Julia and her group of workers had set up to reach the bottom. Laurie kept patting Hermione's shoulders in comfort, but the real comfort was the fact that Draco was cradling her. Ah, this was the life.

"What were you _thinking_, doing wild stunts up at that height?" Draco suddenly shouted at her, breaking the magical moment. "Do you know how scared we were when you started dangling by your feet? You could have died!"

"But I'm still here," she mumbled as she snuggled into his chest semi-consciously. "And I'm OK."

He sighed, and was slightly disturbed to find his fingers trying to stroke her hair. He quickly changed his hand's course and ended up making an awkward claw-like gesture on camera, which made Kenny flash him a grin. Draco mentally rolled his eyes.

Once Hermione had established the fact that she was perfectly fine, albeit a little shell-shocked by her experience, Laurie started complaining that she should have thought of something wacky and dangerous like that so that Draco could have caught _her_ in his arms too, and the others decided that they should probably call it a day. As they packed everything up, Draco wandered over to the useless pile of broken gear that Hermione had worn and examined the breaks in the harness. "Weird," he muttered to himself as he glanced at her again absently._ I'm sure I checked it this morning with Julia and it was fine, but now..._

It struck him like a random bolt of lightning out of nowhere. _Julia!_ She must have done something to it. It was the only possible explanation. After all, nobody had touched these harnesses except them and the manufacturers, and he doubted they would have randomly cut one of them up for fun. He checked the few unbroken straps on Hermione's harness again and noticed this time that the cuts were made quite specifically so that the harness would look normal, if not a little frayed around the edges. This made them seem perfectly functional upon inspection but when a weight was applied, the remaining fibres wouldn't last long before they all snapped.

You had to admire the woman's determination to get good ratings for the show, even if her methods were incredibly insane.

Draco made a mental note to confront her later. It was unlikely he'd be able to get her to apologize to Hermione - in fact, it was about as likely as Potter not being a righteous ass all the time - but he would have to warn her against doing such a thing in future shows.

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

"I am so sorry."

"Listen, Viktor." Hermione sighed. "I don't like what you did, but... I have to admit that I haven't been entirely honest with you either."

Krum didn't look as surprised as she would have liked. "So something _did_ happen between you and Draco."

"It was only a small something," she said quickly. "But still, I didn't feel like I could continue on with you any longer. I think we've both felt that way for a while now. We were just in denial because we had been an item for such a long time."

He paused for a moment before finally nodding. "You're right."

They watched as the motorboat came towards the island to take him and Teresa away. Julia climbed down from the deck and lifted her sunglasses, exposing her beaming face. "So, who wants to hear about the differences the guests made to the polls?" she teased as everyone crowded around her.

"I didn't have any guests," Laurie wailed. "Does that make any difference?"

Julia flapped a hand. "We'll start with you, Alex and Teresa. Everyone thinks you two make such a cute couple and your popularity has soared." Laurie looked forlorn as Julia turned to her next. "Not much difference for you, I'm afraid. However, things may get better as Hermione's audience support has taken a bit of a dive."

Hermione groaned inwardly. She'd almost forgotten about the fact that everything she did now could be seen by the audience and thus affected her votes. Technically, she and Krum had mutually broken up, but of course nobody else knew that yet. And if she tried to tell anyone the truth now, it would just be seen as a pathetic attempt to redirect the audience's pity towards herself.

"Most of the audience feel that it was completely uncalled of for you to publicly reject his proposal - he's such a nice guy." Julia tutted. "Looks like it wasn't such a good move to dump him so soon, was it? On the other hand, the incident during abseiling has made the support dive a little less steep. A lot of people sympathized with you over the fall and seems like many of them are concerned with how you are." She had an oddly smug expression on her face. Draco, who was looking over some camera equipment with Kenny, coughed without looking up.

"Aw, that's sweet," Laurie said, making goo-goo eyes. Hermione ignored her.

"Anyway, that's the status for now," Julia said, putting her sunglasses back on. "Kenny, hurry up with the camera, they're about to leave!"

Alex and Teresa started murmuring together and embracing for the last time in a few more days, while Krum turned towards Hermione and kissed her stiffly on the cheek. "I guess this is goodbye, then," he said, looking a little regretful. "This has not been the happiest trip, but..."

"I think it did us a lot of good, actually," Hermione remarked dryly.

Krum chuckled. "If you say so."

With one last wave, he boarded the boat and Hermione headed back towards her shelter, feeling like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

"Still pining for Krum?" Draco sneered as he lifted up the roof of Hermione's shelter, where she was crouched inside. "Maybe Julia was right. You shouldn't have dumped him. By the way, she wants to see you."

"What is it now?" she grimaced, before glaring up at him. "And me, pining for a cheating jerk? Please."

He raised an eyebrow. "He _cheated_ on you? Is that why you rejected him?"

"Actually, he had the good grace to save it until during our abseiling session," she said sourly.

Draco started to laugh. "Is that why you had a kicking fit in the middle of it?"

"Basically, yeah," she sighed. "But then I realized what a hypocrite I was. I'm just as bad as he is."

"Do you regret it?" he asked suddenly.

She knew what he meant. "No, not at all."

"You know, I could still forgive you for having a fiancè," he said after a long pause.

The notion was tempting, but then the Island Eye tape flashed through her mind again. Nothing good could come out of their relationship if that was how Draco was going to be. "Sorry, but I don't want another cheater," she said as coldly as she could and climbed out of her shelter, leaving a bemused Draco with his mouth open behind her.

**---xcxsurvivorxcx---**

Finally... done... I hit a hell lot of writer's blocks during the writing of this chapter, which might explain for the lateness. Anyway, I hope it was still marginally enjoyable.

(Must! Finish! Fics! Soon! D:)


	11. The Frustration

**S U R V I V O R**

Based on the book 'I Will Survive' by Samantha Connolly.

**A/N:** Hello there, readers. :D It's been a while, but right now it's the middle of exams for me so I'm writing this to wind down. Maybe it'll help me do better or something. Meh, whatever. Anyway, I freely admit that I borrowed all the facts during the Q and A section between Draco, Laurie and Hermione from the actual book, because I'm not a reality-TV show fan and I've never been stranded in the wilderness before. So forgive me. D:

**---xcxsurvivorxcx---**

**Chapter Eleven**

**---xcxsurvivorxcx---**

"God, Julia," Hermione pleaded. "I've had enough. I want to go home."

Julia tilted her head sideways and down, and peered at Hermione over her shades. "Come now, you don't really mean that, do you?"

Hermione fidgeted in agitation. "Yes I do mean it, actually. I've had enough bloody drama here to last me a lifetime and I don't plan on going through any more of it."

"Well, I'm afraid that's not an option." Obviously Julia had reached the end of her very limited patience already. "Anyway, it's practically the last day, so stop being such a baby."

"You can't make me stay here against my will."

"What are you going to do, swim? Or are you going to take Draco's raft?" Julia mocked. Hermione bristled but said nothing. "Listen, Hermione," the producer said, her voice developing a woman-to-woman tone to it. "I know you're in a hurry to right the wrongs you did to poor Viktor, but running after him isn't going to achieve what you want. Remember, treat 'em mean to keep 'em keen; with some luck he'll still be willing to give you another chance after he realizes how he can't live without you."

"I don't care about Viktor," Hermione frowned.

"There, there, I almost believed you myself," Julia said, smiling encouragingly. "If you keep up that attitude until tomorrow, you can throw in a real twist by saying how much you miss him at the confession cam in the last moment. Maybe you could even say that you'd give up the money just to have him back again." She pursed her lips. "Hmm. You'd have to be careful with that one, though, or people might take you seriously."

Hermione looked at her with a mixture of disturbance and awe. It was amazing what went on in that woman's head.

"In any case," Julia decided after another moment of thought. "You shouldn't let this affect your participation in this game. Use it to your advantage, if you can. Don't forget how close you are to finishing."

"Why does everyone say this is a game?" Hermione sighed. To her, the few weeks she'd spent here had been anything but; in fact she could almost call it a life-changing experience. When Julia didn't reply and turned to shout orders at the crew members, the brunette looked at her and asked her bluntly: "Actually, why _was_ I picked in the first place? What am I doing here?"

The question caught Julia's attention for the moment. "That's an easy one. You were meant to be the prim and proper librarian who comes to the island, sheds her skin and turns into a nymphomaniac. Though I was beginning to think that would never happen, with the way you were behaving." She winked. "But if I had a fiancé like Viktor, I would have held out too."

"Well, he's free now," Hermione said snidely. "You can have him."

"Hmm," Julia said absently. "He's a bit _yesterday's news_ for me, really. Anyway, don't give up hope, I'm sure he'll take you back. Just don't whine too much. No more of that 'I want to go home' talk, alright?"

Hermione stared at her. "I've never met anyone quite like you before."

Julia preened. "I get that a lot." She brought her sunglasses back up her nose and started jabbing her fingers at nearby victims. "We only need one person, they'll take turns! Don't make me come out there!"

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

"We'll be doing a search and find for our last challenge," Draco announced to everyone when they headed back to camp to gather around. "There's an injured person somewhere in the forest, and you'll have to bring him back. Most likely you'll have to make a travois to help bring them back."

"Come again?" Laurie looked completely lost.

"You know, a stretcher made out of branches. I made one to show you guys a few days ago."

From her groan and the cloud of bemusement that was still on her face, Laurie obviously didn't recall seeing anything like it.

Draco pretended to rolled his eyes in exasperation. "You'll be doing this in turns, and it should take you a maximum of about an hour. If you still haven't found the guy by then, you're pretty lost. I'll give you a map, and don't bother asking Kenny for help because there'll be dire consequences for him if he opens his mouth." He gave a mock glare at the cameraman to prove his point. "If, for some reason, you're really stuck, lost or just want to quit, blow three times on the whistle around your neck and I'll come and find you." He looked around at all of them to make sure they understood his instructions so far. "In any case, I'll freely admit that this will be your toughest challenge yet, and it'll definitely put everything you've learned so far in the past few weeks to the test – map-reading, tracking, first aid, the works. So I really hope that you've remember everything important that I've told you."

Laurie sighed in despair. "What's the point of me doing this? I'm already way too far behind in terms of points to win anyway."

"I thought you were on par with Hermione," Alex remarked with interest. At once everyone started looking around at each other, hoping one of them still knew their points.

Of course, Hermione herself remembered all their scores vividly, but for once she didn't feel like this would be a good time to be the know-it-all. With a slight shrug to deter Alex, who had turned to her, she watched as the others recounted the winners of the challenges so far.

"Let's see," Draco said, counting off on his fingers. "Alex, you won the…"

"I caught the fish and won the obstacle course," he declared proudly.

"That's two points. Laurie?"

"I won the scavenger hunt," the blonde woman said, sounding like she didn't quite believe it herself.

"One point." Draco didn't look up when he said her name. "And Hermione…"

"I got a point for working out how to get down the pit, and another for finding you at the lagoon." For some mysterious reason, Hermione felt tears welling up as she said the last part, and quickly began rubbing furiously at her eyes to pretend something was in them. Things had been so simple back then, and now… well, it was safe to say that she'd made a mess of everything, really.

"Two points. Well, you'll be happy to know that there's actually two points going for this challenge. One for the fastest person to be back with the injured person, and the other one – I guess you'll see."

"Hey, that's not fair!" Laurie protested. "At least give us a clue so we can get mentally prepared."

Draco grinned at her. "You'll find out when you win it, won't you?" he teased.

Hermione's hand itched to grab her wand, but then remembered she'd left it all the way back home. _Of all the times..._

"OK, let's see who goes first," Draco said, picking up a shell from the ground and hiding it in one of his palms behind his back. "So, which hand is it in?"

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

"So, how much do you think an island would cost? Could I get one for a million dollars?" Hermione asked Kenny even though he was on strict terms to ignore any attempts at conversation. She nodded, as if he had answered. "Yeah, I know. I'd still need money left to live off. Maybe I could get one for half mil. A fixer upper." She chuckled to herself.

She glanced down at the map Draco had given her. It hadn't been nearly as hard as she'd expected to read it, and so far she hadn't veered off the track yet. Either the route Julia had set up was incredibly straightforward or she was getting good at reading these things.

"OK, that must be the bush with red leaves that's mentioned on the map," she said as she ventured forward. "Go right and forward here-" She stopped in her tracks when they heard someone calling for help from a near distance. "Aha! Found him," Hermione said brightly and they pressed forward towards the sound.

Hermione admitted that she was starting to be grateful to Julia for not letting her leave early. She didn't know how she would fare if she went home right now with all her feelings in such a knot. And it would have been a shame to have left this trip before she finished it.

The nine days she had spent here couldn't be called an adventure, but it was possibly one of the more exciting things to come her way after the events five years ago. She had done things that she would probably never have ever dreamed of doing, and she had unfortunately learned to have things she couldn't possibly have after they left the island. Although they had whined and grumbled their way through most of the challenges and routines, she found herself thinking that she was going to miss her daily morning swims in the ocean, the walks on the beach, and the sunsets whose speed always caught her by surprise - one minute it was a blaze of fire in the sky; the next, stars were twinkling down at them from a pitch black-blue sky. And the stars... it was amazing how many she could see, out of the smog-filled night skies of London.

She didn't even mind the scratchiness of her 'bed' or the nightly insect visits anymore. She loved waking up to a fresh sea breeze wafting into her nostrils. She loved falling asleep to the lullaby of the waves as they came in and out. She loved the... whoa, half-naked men that you found in the forest.

"Thank God you came," the man said, the picture of distress. "I fell down a nearby cliff and I think I broke something."

Hermione's mouth twitched. "And your shirt fell off too?"

"I was checking if anything was broken," he said, his eyes flickering.

Hermione decided to take pity on him and drop the matter. Trust Julia; anything to bring in viewers.

"I'm Hermione," she said as she crouched down next to him.

"I'm Mark," the man said. "I think my arm's broken." She prodded and tried to lift his arm, and he yelped convincingly in pain. "Ow!"

"How are your legs?" she asked.

He moved them tentatively. "I think they're fine."

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Good, that means I won't have to make a travois for you." She put a hand on his forehead and looked at his pupils. "Hm, no fever. In any case you're probably in shock, but I can't exactly make you a cup of tea here, so I'll splint you up and help you out of here."

Mark nodded as she collected a few straight and sturdy sticks and tore down some strips of fibre from some vines close by. She bound the sticks together with some fibre and used the rest to bind the splint to Mark's arm. "You have a lovely chest," she commented as she worked. "You work out?"

"Er, yes," he said dubiously.

"And your arms are very strong."

He tried to avoid looking at her and glanced sideways into the camera instead. "Thanks."

"You seem like a really nice guy."

"Uh, right." Mark's tone was doubtful.

"Very masculine and virile."

"They just told me to act like I had a broken arm," he said, now looking distinctly uncomfortable.

Hermione nodded absently as she tore up his shirt to make a sling. She almost wanted to laugh at the look on his face as she approached him. "Do you know what I would feel if I kissed you right now, Mark?"

His eyebrows shot up and he shook his head nervously, looking around in bewilderment.

"Nothing! Absolutely nothing," she declared. "I could kiss you right here, a great big snog, and I would feel nothing. It would be like kissing a tree."

Mark narrowed his eyes at Kenny, who shrugged helplessly. "Nobody mentioned anything about-"

"Excuse me, Mark." Hermione spoke up and signalled for Kenny to turn the camera back at her. "Listen, Viktor, I'm sorry again for pulling that on you in public. _But_, as we both know, it ended up being the right decision for us. So for everyone watching right now who knows me and is honestly wondering who on earth this stranger talking here is, don't think I did it out of the blue. Viktor and I just weren't made for each other. He's a great guy but he's... I'm just..." Hermione shook her head as she stumbled on her words. "I'll explain it all once I get back home."

She was aware of how that sounded like a desperate attempt to pull back the favor of the portion of the audience who had not been happy about her dumping Krum, but in all honesty it was partly an apology and a last kick at Viktor, and mostly to assure her friends, who would definitely be bemused with her actions on the island. She was sure that Ginny, as usual, would be the first to understand, but she wasn't sure if even her best girlfriend had picked up on the chemistry between her and Draco. Chemistry which, unfortunately, looked like it was prematurely fizzing out before it had truly started anything.

With her monologue done, she turned back to her hapless patient. "I'm sorry about that, Mark. Just forget it happened."

"I have a girlfriend," he said tersely.

"Of course you do," she said, helping him to his feet. "And you also have a broken arm, so let's get going."

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

Hermione looked on as Kenny took her rescue tape out of the camera and wrote her name on it before handing it to Draco. "Um, what are you going to do with that?" she asked.

"Watch it. What else?" Draco said, raising an eyebrow.

"I'd rather you didn't," she said nervously. "I mean, there's nothing interesting on there anyway."

"I just want to have a look at your rescue technique," he explained. Mark came up to them and Draco examined the splint's structure and strength. "Nice work, though you didn't have to take off his shirt."

Hermione felt her mouth twitch. "I didn't, it was already like that when I got there. You tell him, Mark!" she barked, turning on the other man, who shrunk away in fright.

"Uh, I think I should go now, the next person's almost up," he said and jogged off very quickly.

They watched him go. "What did you do to him?" Draco asked, a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Absolutely nothing," Hermione said indignantly. "You know what, why don't you just watch the tape. You'll see there."

"I might just do that then," he said and walked over to Kenny, who handed him a video camera.

She headed over to a nearby coconut tree, under which Laurie was sitting. Truth be told, she would rather sit alone, but it would seem a bit strange and there were no other shady places in the close proximity where she could keep a scrupulous eye on Draco's face as he watched her tape.

"What did I miss?" she asked as she sat down next to the blonde.

Laurie looked a little weary. "Draco was asking us questions. About the island, about animals, lots of different things. I knew next to nothing and I'm certain that's what the other point is for." She sighed. "Oh, and he asked about you too. Where you came from and all that."

Hermione's pulse skipped a beat. "Hmm. I see." Maybe he had felt something after seeing her with Krum. After all, there was that moment between them after she nearly cracked her head open...

She shook her head. _Get a hold of yourself,_ her logical side scolded the romantic side.

She was bursting to ask about how Laurie was doing with Draco, but didn't want to make it seem too obvious that she was interested for more reasons than just simple curiosity; and anyway, she couldn't really trust what Laurie had to say.

Her eyes strayed to Draco and she looked on as he pressed various buttons on a tiny remote control for the video camera, his impassive face occasionally betraying flickers of emotion. At one point his brows knitted and Hermione looked away, wanting to crawl into a hole and hide. Technically, he was the one person who really needed to hear her little speech, but in this case the circumstances weren't particularly ideal.

"Was it hard?"

It took Hermione a few moments to realize Laurie was attempting to start a conversation with her. She looked blankly at the other woman before the question sank in and she shook her head quickly. "Uh, no, it wasn't too bad. But I think we all get different injuries to sort out. I got a broken arm, which wasn't too bad, I guess."

"You're lucky," Laurie moaned. "I have the most horrible premonition that I'm going to get a busted leg and I'll have to make a travois for him. Which I have no idea how to do."

"It's just a few sticks put together by strips of fibre," Hermione said encouragingly.

Laurie snorted. "Waaaay easier said than done." The blonde peered at her out of the corner of her eye. "By the way, I've been meaning to ask this... but what happened with Viktor? Your relationship seemed _really_ patchy, if you don't mind me saying so."

Viktor? Oh right, the other man in her life that wasn't Draco. She really couldn't think of Krum right now; it was impressive how much Draco was taking over her head. "Um, well, we had our differences. It just didn't feel right to me. He admitted the same afterwards, so we parted on good terms."

"Hmm. I see. That's a shame," Laurie mused.

Hermione glanced at her. Laurie, acting like she cared about something other than her own affairs? This was new. Maybe now that Krum was out of the picture, she was starting to view Hermione as a threat again. But that was only a maybe.

Before she could stop herself, Hermione blurted: "So how's it going with Draco?"

Laurie looked slightly startled, then looked around quickly before covering her microphone. "I don't really want to say anything while we're on camera," she mouthed.

"Oh, of course," Hermion said, nodded understandingly. Ahah. _Seems like things aren't going so smoothly in paradise._

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

"How do you get water from a young banana tree?" Draco looked at the two women. "I think it's your turn, Laurie."

She sighed loudly. "I don't know, drill a hole in the trunk and stick a straw into it?"

"Not quite. Hermione?"

"Chop it down, leaving about three inches from the ground," she answered, glancing at his face. He hadn't mentioned anything about her errant behavior with poor Mark, and she wasn't about to bring it up herself. "Hollow out the trunk and it'll fill up with water from the roots."

Draco nodded. "Very good, kno-" He quickly went into a coughing fit, distracting Laurie - who had been poking her tongue out at Hermione - into patting him on the back. Hermione stared at him. Was he just about to call her a know-it-all?

She wasn't sure if this was a sign of him warming to her, but on the other hand he had been even more remote and detached than before. She decided he was just being stubbornly defensive.

"OK, how do you treat a snakebite?" Draco asked once he recovered. "Hermione, your turn."

"Uh," she said, freezing a little. They hadn't done that on the island and she had only seen brave Muggles try it on television. "Cut off blood circulation to the area, make a small cut and suck it out?"

"Not really a good idea," he said, grimacing. "That's only if you're stranded on your own and don't have much chance of survival anyway. Laurie, any ideas?"

The blonde shook her head. "I was going to say the same thing."

"The best thing to do would be to apply pressure directly to the wound, then bandage tightly above and below the wound to localize the poison. Then call for medical help immediately. Good thing I didn't ask Alex that," he said jokingly. "He's afraid of snakes."

"Ants," Hermione said absently.

Draco looked at her. "What?"

"He's afraid of ants," she repeated. "Remember when we were doing the obstacle course and he thought the giant dirt mound was an ant nest?"

"Oh, that's right," he said thoughtfully, and jotted down something on his clipboard. "Right, next up is Laurie again. If you're stranded in the wilderness, how can you use your watch as a compass?"

"I'm never going to be stranded in the wild," Laurie said, looking annoyed. "I do _not_ need to know this."

Draco smirked. "Is that your answer?" When Laurie made a hmph-ing noise, he turned to Hermione. "Over to you, then."

Hermione was never particularly good with directions, and it wasn't as if they'd taught this stuff at school. "Er... point twelve at the sun and north is at the hour hand?"

He shook his head. "Well, can't say you didn't try. In the northern hemisphere, point the hour hand at the sun. North is halfway between the hour hand and twelve. In the Southern hemisphere, point twelve at the sun. South is halfway between twelve and the hour hand."

"I see," Laurie said, obviously not seeing at all.

"Well, let's have some easy ones now," Draco said brightly. "Good old football. What city is the home of the football team, the Broncos?"

Hermione knew the answer but waited to see if Laurie would offer anything first. When the other woman didn't answer, she spoke up. "Denver."

"That's right," Draco nodded. She noticed him making another notation.

"How was I supposed to know that? I don't even like football," Laurie grumbled.

Hermione made a face. "Neither do I, but I remember Alex talking about it one night. He comes from Denver, so it's his home team."

"Name a constellation that's only visible from the southern hemisphere," Draco said. "Hermione?"

Was he trying to bring up something by mentioning constellations? She stared at him for a moment, then narrowed her eyes. He looked completely guileless. _Guess not._ "Southern Cross," she said flippantly.

"Great." He laughed at the expression on Laurie's face. "Don't look so miserable, Laurie. You might know this next one."

"Alright, I'll give it a shot," she said, trying hard to bring some enthusiasm back into her voice.

"What color eyes will Alex and Teresa's baby have?"

Laurie flung herself backwards from the log she was sitting on onto the soft sand behind her. "You have got to be kidding me," she moaned. "I'm not a bloody psychic!"

Draco turned to Hermione with a raised eyebrow. Hermione nodded, her heart falling back down from its hopeful place in her oesophagus. "Brown. Because both Alex and Teresa have brown eyes."

He nodded. "Very good. Sorry, Laurie," he said, smiling sympathetically at the other woman, who was flailing about in indignation in the sand.

"Those were the dumbest questions I've ever heard!" she squawked. "Ask me about who was on the nomination list for a particular year's Oscars, or the name of the top agent in some record company - something _important_, for God's sake!"

Hermione had tuned out, and was watching the lulling come-and-go of the waves a dozen metres away. So her logical side had been right. Draco hadn't been asking the questions as personal interest in _her_; rather it was more of a test of observation to see how much they remembered about everything they'd seen and heard on this island. It was part of a challenge.

She felt a sinking feeling in her chest. She had wanted to believe that he was still interested in her, that there was still some hope of them forgiving each other and reconciling what her stupid pride had made her do. She should have just confronted him the day after the hot tub night and asked him what he was trying to do by screwing around like that. But now it seemed like things were well and truly blown between them.

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

Alex arrived back at camp not long after, looking exhausted as he hauled Mark along on a travois. Draco checked how Mark was, and took Alex's tape from Kenny and told Laurie to get ready for her turn. While Alex gratefully rummaged around in the kitchen after Draco suggested he find something to eat, Mark removed his bandages and headed back into the forest again. Laurie grabbed a bottle of water and accepted the map from Draco with a sigh that sounded like the entire world was on her shoulders, and set off with Kenny.

Draco was sorting his papers and questionnaire scores when Hermione approached him to wait for Alex to get ready for their quiz. The atmosphere here was almost charged with hostility, but she wasn't about to back down. She sat down on the same log she was sitting on before, and attempted to look nonchalant as she glanced around and tugged her hair absently.

Maybe it would be good just to let it go. After all, there was only two days left, and then she probably wouldn't see him again - or at least not for a long time. Then again, that was reason enough in itself to talk to him about it.

"Draco?" she ventured.

He barely looked up. "Yeah?"

She fidgeted at the power of the glare he sent her. "Uh, we need to talk."

"Do we?" This time he looked up properly, and again Hermione was struck by his forbidding gaze.

"Yes," she said as bravely as she could despite her heart thumping in her chest. She covered her microphone with her hand and motioned for him to do the same.

He sighed and reluctantly obeyed. "What do you want to talk about?" he asked icily.

"Listen, I know we both made mistakes-"

"I know I did," he sneered. "I made a real big one."

Somehow that didn't sound like an admission of guilt so much as a below-the-belt dig at her, so Hermione didn't stop to analyze and bite his head off for it.

"Well the thing is," she continued as if she hadn't heard him. "Krum's gone now and you..." She paused and swallowed. "Well, I miss you," she said softly.

"I'm right here," he retorted rudely.

She struggled to control her rising frustration. "I'm trying to say..."

"What?" he said.

She tried to ignore what a jerk he was being, and looked him in the eye. "You know how I feel about you. And I don't mean our old mutual hatred."

Something changed in his face, and she was hopeful that she might have gotten through to him - but then it went back again. "I get it," he said, laughing bitterly. "Your boyfriend's gone and now you're lonely. What, now you can't survive for two days without a man? And I guess Mark didn't come through for you either, so now it's back to me? Hooray, Hermione wants me again, here I am, I'm all yours."

She ground her teeth and looked away, holding back the urge to punch him square in the face despite her exasperation at his refusal to meet her halfway. "That's not what I meant and you know it."

"Do I, Hermione? The fact is, you've changed since you came here. I thought I knew you, but then something like that thing with Laurie comes up-"

"That_thing_ with Laurie?" she shot at him, jumping up angrily. "So that's what you call it? I guess it's turned your viewpoint around completely, has it?"

He looked uncomfortable. "It did change the way I saw you two, yeah."

"Oh God," she muttered in defeat as Alex started walking towards them, waving jovially. Why was he being so difficult? This was going nowhere. "Just forget it. I don't know why I bothered trying to talk to you."

**---xcxsurvivorxcx---**

Misunderstandings ftw! This is the penultimate chapter, so look out for the ending sometime around Christmas. XD To be honest I don't like this fic much anymore; I've been alerted to its many bad points and I myself realize now that basing it on a book wasn't really such a good idea. Oh well, chances are I'll write about Draco and Hermione again (hopefully), in a better and new fic.


	12. The Finale

**S U R V I V O R**

Based on the book 'I Will Survive' by Samantha Connolly.

**A/N:**One word... enjoy. :D This is the last chapter. Phew.

**---xcxsurvivorxcx---**

**Chapter Twelve**

**---xcxsurvivorxcx---**

_This is it,_ Hermione thought as she glanced at everyone gathered on the beach. _The finale, after nearly two weeks of madness. _

"Where is she?" Laurie moaned piteously as she paced up and down the same strip of sand. "Julia said she'd be here by morning. It's already midday!"

"We've already come this far, what's another few hours?" Alex said reasonably, looking the calmest out of all three of them. "They're probably just trying to get us worked up. Though I admit it's working, to a degree."

The blonde whirled around and gazed at the two others. "I'm not going to win, am I? I basically flunked all the challenges and I talked about myself way too much... I couldn't even answer those questions at the end about you guys. OK, I didn't expect to remember any of that survival stuff, but I should have at least been able to answer the ones about my fellow contestants!" she babbled, looking more nervous and strung out by the second.

"There's still a huge portion of the decision that rides on the audience," Hermione pointed out. "We can't say who'll win just based on the challenges." Alex nodded in agreement, but Laurie still didn't look convinced.

"But who's going to vote for me?" she wailed. "They're going to vote for you, Alex, because you're a budding family man. Or you, Hermione, because you're so nice."

Hermione tried not to roll her eyes. She had been nice, yes, and look where it had gotten her.

She looked away from her companions for a moment and out to the cerulean ocean. The water seemed especially beautiful today, as if reminding them of what they'd be missing once they were back in society. Hermione found herself feeling infinite regret at not being able to find some sort of _ending_ to her and Draco's little fling, if it could even be called that. She didn't want to part on the terms they were on right now, and although her head kept telling her that he was nothing but a jerk, her heart wasn't buying it.

Well, if he wasn't a jerk, his taste in women seemed to have remained the same since teenagehood. That alone should be enough for her to let it go.

"I cannot _wait_ to get back to being able to have a hot bath whenever I want," Laurie was saying, closing her eyes in bliss. "And having ice cream... and pizza... I can still have those, whether I win or not. Thank God for the small things."

"I'm looking forward to being clean for once," Alex laughed. "I've been grimy every single day these past ten days. And even going back to work would be a whole lot easier than this. Oh, and of course the sports channel. Can't forget that." He turned to Hermione with raised eyebrows. "What about you, Hermione?"

She shook her head, grinning. "There's just far too much I'm looking forward to. Being able to sleep on a mattress, for one thing. Sleeping in whenever I want. Reading a _book_ whenever I want. And I can't wait to see my friends again."

But the truth was she'd had more fun on the island than she had for a long time, and she'd sorely miss the place. And no matter how much she didn't want to admit it, she would sorely miss Draco too.

Alex slapped his forehead. "Sleep! I knew I missed something."

"Won't be long now," Laurie said, grinning cheekily.

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

By the time Julia finally arrived, Hermione was starting to habitually check whether Laurie had bitten off all her nails yet. The blonde had jumped up immediately and plagued Julia with questions, but the other woman staunchly refused to let out even a peep and went straight into organizing their seating arrangements for the final shots. In the end, they sat on a log in front of the remnants of their cooking fire, with Draco off to the side and Julia sitting opposite them. Each of the contestants had their own cameraman and Hermione found it difficult to not scratch her nose too much with the camera trained intently on her.

Despite herself she was starting to feel a little excited. What if she won? Technically the money wouldn't be of much use to her, but maybe she could send it to her parents or something. And she hadn't gone shopping in Muggle towns in a long time. It would be interesting to bring her friends around to see the strange and magickless civilization that ran parallel to their own.

Finally, Julia set the cameras rolling and sat down, smiling widely. She was wearing a stunning silky blouse with an A-line ruffled skirt, and her hair was immaculately pinned behind her head. Hermione self-consciously brushed a hand through her own tangled mane, then wondered why she was bothering.

"Before we announce the results, let me ask a few questions," Julia said. "What has been the best part of the experience for you, Laurie?"

Laurie gave the cameras her perfect actress smile in reply, and said, "The whole thing has been amazing. I've made such great friends, and everyday was a new and challenging experience for me. I think the three of us contestants really share a bond now, after all that we've been through together."

Hermione bit back laughter and looked down, composing herself, before nodding right along with her.

"Alex, what about you?" Julia asked.

"A lot has happened, and I doubt I can describe it all now," he said with a small smile. "I've really learned to push myself during these few days. I wouldn't have ever dreamed of doing something like this before, but now I know that I can do anything if I put my mind to it. It's been a really enlightening experience."

It would be her turn next. Hermione glanced away from Alex for a moment and wondered what she would say. She'd gained _and_ lost a fiance, had been in love, but not with the person everyone else might have thought. And now she was going to part on bad terms with him, for the second time in her life.

"So, that leaves you, Hermione," Julia said rather loudly, and Hermione quickly looked at her, smiling brightly. "What did you gain from this?"

"Well, it's been great living on an island and having all these adventures. I got to meet some great people and it's been an unforgettable experience. I'm glad I got chosen," she said, struggling to think of more cliché things she could say to pad out her response.

Evidently she hadn't thought of enough, because Julia continued to look at her expectantly for a while after she'd trailed off. "Okay then," the host said, turning back to the other contestants. "I know you're probably all waiting for the final result, but let me announce the winner of the challenges first."

_Laurie must be going mad_, Hermione thought wryly.

"First off, Laurie. You won the scavenger hunt, which gives you one point. Good work."

The blonde grimaced a little and then smiled bravely into the cameras, waving.

Julia checked her clipboard. "Now for Alex. You won the fishing challenge, the obstacle course and you made the fastest and best rescue yesterday. Three points."

Alex nodded wordlessly, grinning.

"Hermione, you got the point for the pit challenge, tracking Draco, and you answered the most questions right yesterday for the pop quiz. Three points also." Julia smiled at them. "So, we've got ourselves a tie, boys and girls. But we've decided not to let you fight it out for the prize, so Alex and Hermione, you're both getting brand-new, fully loaded Land Rovers!"

It took Hermione a moment to remember what a Land Rover was, but she gladly accepted Alex's hug, albeit cutting it short in case Teresa gave him trouble once he got home. Laurie reached past him and gave Hermione a squeeze on the arm. Technically the prize was useless to her, as she rarely went anywhere without Apparating, but she was sure Arthur Weasley would appreciate having a new toy to tinker with.

"And now for the _real_ result," Julia announced imperiously. Hermione's pulse sped up a notch, and she stared fixedly at the woman sitting opposite them. "It was a close call, but the audience has spoken. The winner of this season's _Survive This!_ is... Laurie!"

There was silence for a moment as everyone's head turned towards the blonde, and then Laurie jumped up with an ear-splitting shriek.

Hermione only felt a mild stab of disappointment, but it was followed by a huge wave of relief. People had already suspected her of meddling and cheating, and winning would only fuel the rumors. In any case, it was likely the winner would be in the spotlight for a while, and there was no way she was going to have cameras following her around, no matter for how long. It had already been a whim for her to have applied for a Muggle show in the first place. She didn't want to end up mind-wiping dozens of poor innocent Muggles simply because they might have seen things they shouldn't have.

She stood up and joined Alex as they both gave Laurie hugs, and then hugged each other in commiseration. She was glad to see he didn't look too disappointed either, and they laughed together as Laurie went around gushing thanks at everyone. Hermione took the chance to glance at Draco, who immediately looked away as if he had been watching her reaction. Unfortunately Laurie then proceeded to plaster herself all over him, so she turned back to patting Alex on the back.

"Thank you _so_ much for voting for me, everyone," Laurie gushed, turning back to the cameras. "To my amazing fans out there - I couldn't have done it without you. It was only knowing that you were there watching over me that I was able to get through all of this. You guys gave me the courage and support that I needed to go on. I love you all!"

Hermione, along with everyone else, couldn't help applauding her speech.

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

After the initial celebrations had died down, the contestants were allowed to have some time to themselves before they left the island. Hermione found herself trying to fit everything she'd made in the past few days into her handbag, along with pretty shells and other momentos of the time she'd spent here. It was a shame she couldn't fit the shelter in as well, but she made do with what she could take.

A glance told her that Alex was doing the same thing. Laurie, on the other hand, was barehanded and was making it clear that she couldn't wait to leave the whole experience behind her.

Hermione was just thinking about how she would get the Land Rover away from the studio, seeing as she couldn't drive, when Julia approached her with a mike and cameraman. "Just want to get some last words in," she said. "What are you going to do now after you get home?" She mouthed 'Krum' and nodded at the camera encouragingly.

The brunette laughed in response. "I'm going to get in my new Land Rover and drive and drive and drive." She glanced at Draco and spotted him looking at her again, but turned away so he wouldn't ruin her mild feeling of victory.

Julia rolled her eyes and ushered the cameraman to Alex. "What about you?"

"It's been amazing, but it's back to ordinary life now," he said with a shrug.

"You people are so profound," muttered Julia as she went after Laurie, who was surrounded by fawning cameramen.

Hermione finished packing and watched as Alex went to have some parting words with Draco. Even though she didn't want to face him, she would have to thank him later for her experience on the island. And it was really her last chance to straighten things out and find out what exactly went on there.

She busied herself for another few minutes until Alex had left, then took off her microphone and took a deep breath. Well, it was now or never. She marched up to him and, with some trouble, looked him in the eye.

"Thanks for everything," she started. "I'm really glad I got this chance, and I know things got a bit complicated but-"

He snorted and she winced, but continued. "These past two weeks have really been amazing. It couldn't have deviated further from... you know, normal life. But I really enjoyed myself. The challenges, especially. They were great, and I learned a lot."

"I'm sorry you didn't win the money," he said after a slight pause.

"It's not the _money_ I want," she snapped.

Draco looked her in the eye. "Well I know what I wanted. I wanted _you_. But I guess I was only a plaything to you, wasn't I?"

She was taken aback by his sudden declaration, but his outright hypocrisy was just ridiculous. "_I_ used _you_? I can't believe you can just stand here and accuse me of that. Don't tell me you already forgot about that time with Laurie."

"That time?" He looked slightly confused. "How does that prove anything?"

"Oh, don't play innocent," she said, getting worked up. "You toyed around with me and then went off with another woman on the same night. Don't try to deny it. Kenny showed me the Island Eye tape."

"I did _what_?"

"I said you toyed with me!" Hermione shouted a bit too loudly, attracting bemused stares from nearby people.

"I didn't do anything with Laurie," he said firmly.

Her anger wavered and she peered at him warily. There was no sign of falsity in his face, no matter how hard she searched. "You didn't? Then what was the whole 'let's get you to bed' thing?"

"She was very drunk. I was just helping her to her shelter, that's all. I swear."

Hermione gave herself a moment to process this information. So she had been jealous over absolutely nothing. "But why were you avoiding me the next day if you weren't feeling guilty?"

"It was what you did that night," he answered. "Remember? You and Laurie at the 'ladies' room'."

Now it was her turn to be confused. "I was just warning her away from Alex."

"Alex? What does Alex have to do with this?"

"She was going to seduce him for the heck of it, remember? I was telling her not to do it. Maybe I got a little carried away..."

Draco felt like a weight that he had never realized was there had been lifted from his chest. "So you weren't telling her to stay away from me?"

"Are you crazy? You're still as egotistical as ever, aren't you?"

"Hey,_she_ told me that. I didn't make it up myself, you know," he said, finally cracking a real smile. "OK, so I guess it was a big mistake on both our parts. I'm sorry I thought the worst of you."

For the first time, Hermione realized how tense he had been the past few days. It was thrilling to see him actually grin properly again, instead of the polite smiles he had been giving her up until now. And finally, the nagging voice that had been plaguing her all morning stopped its constant whining, and she felt the imminent buildup of a migraine fade away.

But she still felt like she owed him just a bit more of an apology. "And I'm sorry... about Krum. We weren't really engaged, you know. He just announced himself as my fiancé, and well-"

She was cut off as Draco grabbed her arm and pulled her closer to him, his old smirk back on his face. "Who cares about that bloody idiot. You've got me, haven't you?"

Hermione flushed and was distinctly aware of heads turning towards them, but tried to ignore the attention as Draco cupped her face in his hands. "I suppose you're right... but you do realize that we're still on national television, don't you?"

"Forget the cameras," he said as he tilted his face towards hers, eyes gleaming. "From now on, whenever I want to kiss you, I'm going to."

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

Draco gently picked off the snowflakes on his eyelashes and blinked. "What?"

"I said, when are we getting picked up? I'm starving my ass off here," Kenny yelled over the howl of the wind.

"Take this," the blonde said, digging into his puffy jacket and handing him a half-frozen chocolate bar.

Kenny went back to the camera and chewed as he filmed, momentarily satisfied.

"It's very important to leave an air hole in the top of your igloo," Draco explained as he walked. "Otherwise the heat inside the igloo melts the inner surface, which will freeze over again to form an airtight wall. Without air spaces, you'll get a buildup of carbon monoxide, which is deadly." He moved towards the entrance of the igloo and smiled as a brunette head emerged, coughing slightly. "The last step is to build the entrance, which stops snow from blowing in. My wife would be happy to do that for us."

Hermione pulled herself up with his help and glared. "Your wife has built practically the whole igloo. You can do it yourself."

Draco laughed and pulled her in for a kiss. She grinned at him and put her arms around his neck, smoothing his hair down, and their kiss deepened.

Kenny discreetly panned the camera away, focusing on the pale blue and green glaciers in the distance and studiously ignoring Julia, who was squawking at him through the headphones to "Get the shot!"

**FINIS**

**---xcxsurvivorxcx---**

Finally done... I promised a Christmas update, but a Valentines update will have to do. XD Happy Valentines Day, everyone! -Sends roses-


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